YouTube Monetization - Watch Hours Explained

When it comes to monetization, YouTube puts a lot of emphasis on watch hours. But what does this term actually mean? Essentially, watch hours refer to the amount of time your videos are watched by viewers. It refers to the literal time they spend watching a video, not whether or not they watch the entire length of the video. There are a few important details to keep in mind about how YouTube calculates watch hours:

Watch Hours Must Be Public: YouTube only counts public watch hours towards monetization. This means that if you have videos set to “unlisted” or “private,” the watch time from those videos will not count.
Watch Hours From The Last 12 Months Only: YouTube only considers watch hours from the past year. To illustrate, if today's date is January 1, 2023, then only the watch time earned from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023 will count. This doesn't mean that a video published years ago won't count; rather, it means that the watch time from that old video over the past 12 months will be considered.
Monetization Thresholds: To unlock different monetization features on YouTube, you need to meet specific watch hour thresholds:
- 3,000 Watch Hours: This unlocks fan funding monetization.
- 4,000 Watch Hours: This unlocks ad revenue monetization.

By understanding these rules and thresholds, you can better plan and strategize your content to meet YouTube’s requirements for monetization. Good luck!

Keywords

YouTube
Watch Hours
Monetization
Public Videos
Last 12 Months
Fan Funding
Ad Revenue

FAQ

Q: What are watch hours on YouTube?
A: Watch hours refer to the amount of time viewers spend watching your videos.

Q: Do watch hours from private or unlisted videos count towards monetization?
A: No, only watch hours from public videos count.

Q: How is the 12-month watch hour period calculated?
A: YouTube considers the watch time earned over the past year from today’s date.

Q: Can watch time from videos published years ago count toward watch hours?
A: Yes, as long as the watch time was earned within the last 12 months.

Q: What is the watch hour requirement for fan funding monetization?
A: You need 3,000 watch hours to unlock fan funding monetization.

Q: What is the watch hour requirement for ad revenue monetization?
A: You need 4,000 watch hours to unlock ad revenue monetization.