YouTube Lowers Barrier to Entry for Creator Monetization

YouTube is opening up its monetization tools to more creators by lowering eligibility requirements for the YouTube Partner Program.
Creators with as few as 500 subscribers and 3,000 watch hours can now access features like tipping, channel memberships, and affiliate marketing.
The program will start in the US, UK, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea before expanding to more countries.
Competitors like TikTok have also made monetization features more accessible to smaller creators recently.
YouTube announced the changes at the VidCon online video conference this week.