MONETIZATION

Check a channel's public monetization readiness

Paste a public channel, video URL, or ID. The checker reads the public signals YouTube exposes — subscriber count, lifetime views, video count, and a sample of recent long-form uploads — and estimates whether the channel clears the Partner Program's displayed subscriber and watch-hour thresholds. The report adds transparent revenue scenarios, key insights, and recent uploads. Free, no signup, works on channels you don't own. Official YPP enrollment and valid watch hours remain private.

Paste a channel or video

Use an @handle, channel ID, channel URL, video ID, or video URL. A video input is resolved to its public channel before the report is built.

Review the complete public report

See the channel snapshot, two long-form gates, revenue scenarios, key insights, recent uploads, and public tags. Missing fields stay marked unavailable instead of being guessed as zero. After the lookup, copy a research note that separates public counts, model assumptions, and unverified items; it leaves out revenue amounts and does not certify monetization.

Understand the watch-time scenario

The public watch-hour proxy uses a fixed 40% average-viewed scenario so every channel is compared on the same basis. It is a transparent estimate, not the qualified watch-hours total in YouTube Studio.

What are the YouTube monetization requirements?

YouTube has more than one monetization tier. Through January 31, 2027, the higher benchmark for ads and YouTube Premium is 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million valid Shorts views in 90 days. For new applicants from February 1, 2027, the viewing thresholds become 8,000 hours or 20 million Shorts views while the subscriber gate stays at 1,000. Existing YPP members are not reassessed under the new entry threshold. This public report uses the long-form benchmark applicable on the report date and cannot determine application approval or private YPP status.

Can you tell if a YouTube channel is monetized?

Not definitively. Whether a channel has joined the Partner Program, passed review, or enabled a revenue module is private information held in its own YouTube Studio. Public pages expose useful scale signals, but not the qualified watch-hour total. This tool can show when the displayed public thresholds appear met because its public subscriber count and fixed long-form scenario clear the proxy, but it cannot confirm monetization. Seeing ads is also only a hint, not proof.

Public thresholds appear met

The public subscriber count and the sampled watch-hour scenario clear the displayed gates. This is not a YPP approval or enrollment check. If it is your channel, compare the result with the Earn tab in YouTube Studio before deciding your next step.

Below the displayed public gate

Read the subscriber and watch-hour rows separately: a public subscriber shortfall is observed, while a watch-hour shortfall is estimated from the sample. This label does not establish whether an existing member is monetized or whether another YPP route applies.

Unknown / Insufficient data

The tool cannot establish a conclusion from the available public inputs. An unavailable field is not zero, and an unavailable watch-hour estimate is not proof that the channel has no valid watch hours. Use the remaining public report without filling in the missing values yourself.

Why the watch-hour number here is an estimate

The official counter measures qualified public watch hours earned inside a rolling 12-month window, and an authorized channel account can see it in YouTube Studio. This proxy uses a fixed 40% average-viewed scenario across at least five sampled public long-form uploads published within the last 365 days. Unknown-format uploads longer than three minutes are safe to include because YouTube Shorts cannot exceed three minutes; Shorts and unclear uploads are excluded. The sample can still miss eligible views from older videos and cannot remove ad-campaign views, so it is not the official counter.

How the revenue scenarios are calculated

The low, typical, and high rows use the channel's lifetime-average all-format public view pace with effective revenue scenarios of $2, $6, and $10 per 1,000 views. Public lifetime views are not Engaged views; since August 24, 2026, the public counter includes plays from the first frame. Because the input also mixes formats and both sides of that cutoff, these rows are directional scale scenarios, not Studio-calibrated earnings estimates. Content mix, Shorts share, audience geography, advertiser demand, limited ads, and YouTube's revenue share can move the real number substantially.

What to do if a channel is short of the threshold

Length is the lever most people ignore. Through January 31, 2027, 4,000 hours equals 240,000 minutes; for new applicants from February 1, 2027, 8,000 qualified hours equals 480,000 minutes. A channel averaging twelve-minute view durations needs a twelfth of the views that a one-minute channel needs. Publishing longer content that genuinely holds attention moves this number faster than publishing more of the same short content. Consistency matters too because the applicable total is measured inside YouTube's published rolling window, so a long gap can erase the earliest hours as it rolls.

NEXT STEP

Cleared the bar, or still climbing?

This check estimates one public snapshot; an authorized channel account can verify owner-only progress in YouTube Studio. Kabo's Trend Radar and peer context are product previews, not live weekly reports of topics or formats.

Try Kabo

Frequently asked questions

Can I check if someone else's channel is monetized?

You can check a public channel's readiness, not its enrollment. The report uses public channel and recent-video data, so it works on channels you don't own — but whether a channel has actually joined the Partner Program is private to its own YouTube Studio, so the result shows whether the displayed public thresholds appear met, not a confirmed monetized status. A channel with fewer than five usable long-form videos still receives a partial report, but the watch-hour estimate stays unavailable rather than being built from a noisy sample.

How many subscribers do you need to monetize on YouTube?

For ad and YouTube Premium revenue sharing, the published benchmark is 1,000 subscribers. In eligible regions, expanded YPP access to fan funding and selected Shopping features can begin at 500 subscribers when its upload and watch-hour or Shorts-view requirements are also met. This checker is scoped to the higher ad-revenue tier.

Is this YouTube monetization checker free?

Yes, with no signup.

Do YouTube Shorts count toward the long-form watch-hour requirement?

No. Shorts have their own route, and Shorts watch time does not count toward the long-form watch-hour figure. Through January 31, 2027, the new-applicant Shorts benchmark is 10 million valid public Shorts views in 90 days; from February 1, 2027, it becomes 20 million for new applicants.

Does watch time from deleted videos still count?

No. Watch time from private, unlisted, and deleted videos does not count, and deleting an old video removes hours it had already earned. This catches people out during a channel cleanup.

Why does this show an estimate instead of my real watch hours?

Because qualified watch hours are visible only to an authorized channel account in YouTube Studio. Nothing in the public channel statistics reports them, so any figure computed from outside is derived from video length and view counts. Use the Earn tab in Studio to verify the official number.

More free tools

YouTube Money CalculatorSee what a channel's views are actually worth.YouTube Watch Hours Deadline CalculatorProject your 4,000-hour date and January 31 gap.YouTube Watch Time CalculatorProject your watch-hour date, remaining gap, and daily pace.All YouTube toolsEvery free tool for this platform, in one place.All free toolsThe full Kabo toolbox for creators.

Was this useful?