In September last year, YouTube launched its TikTok competitor, Shorts, in India. The feature rolled out in the US in beta earlier this year, with a worldwide release following in July. Although YouTube Shorts is now available in over 100 countries, it hasn't managed to gain the same amount of traction as its competitors, TikTok and Instagram Reels. To encourage more people to create for the platform, YouTube has set up a $100 million fund, and it will pay creators up to $10,000 per month for creating short videos for the platform.

We first learned about this $100 million fund back in May this year. But, at the time, YouTube hadn't shared any details about the program. Now, YouTube's Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan, has revealed more information. In a recent episode of The Verge's Decoder podcast, Mohan revealed that YouTube plans to start the payments this month, and creators have the opportunity to earn up to $10,000 per month for making YouTube Shorts. However, there are some caveats.

According to The Verge, "The popularity needed to earn money will depend on just how many people are making and watching Shorts each month, and payouts will also depend on where each creator's audience is located." Creators are also required to post original videos to be eligible for a payout, and reuploads or videos tagged with watermarks from other platforms will disqualify their channel for payments. At the moment, YouTube has extended the program to 10 regions, including the US, US, India, and Brazil, among others, with plans to expand to other regions in the future.

YouTube will use the fund to pay creators throughout the next year and eventually replace the Shorts Fund with a "long-term, scalable monetization program." The company doesn't plan on running ads on YouTube Shorts, so it remains to be seen how it will generate revenue from the platform.

For more details on how you can qualify for a piece of the YouTube Shorts Fund, check out the eligibility criteria here.