YouTube Monetization Checker
Paste any channel to see whether it is monetized. We read its latest 100 uploads through YouTube's public Data API, check each one for the claimed-content marker monetized videos carry, and measure the channel against the Partner Program lines of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views.
Checking your browser...
- Public data only
- No password needed
- Nothing is posted to the account
How it works
- 1
Paste a channel
An @handle or a channel link. Any public channel works, yours or someone else's.
- 2
We read its uploads
The latest 100 public uploads through YouTube's own Data API: length, views, made-for-kids setting and the claimed-content marker.
- 3
Get the verdict
Monetized or not from the marker, then subscribers, watch hours and Shorts views against the Partner Program thresholds.
What the checker reads
Four public facts, each from YouTube's official API rather than a scrape, so the result is the same number YouTube itself serves.
The monetization marker
Subscribers
Watch hours and Shorts views
Upload activity
YouTube monetization in numbers
Of the 35,769 YouTube channels in the PlayerSells directory, 33,076 (92.5%) have passed the 1,000 subscribers the YouTube Partner Program asks for, and the median channel has 66,500 subscribers. The directory follows established channels, so it says little about channels that are just starting. Measured 10 October 2026.
In a 20-channel check on 10 October 2026, none of the recent uploads of 6 channels under 400 subscribers carried YouTube's claimed-content marker, while every recent upload of MrBeast and MKBHD did. Of 14 channels with 1,000 to 20,000 subscribers, 4 had the marker on every recent upload, 2 on some and 8 on none: the split expected when some are in the Partner Program and some are not.
A channel with 100K to 1M subscribers in the PlayerSells directory gained a median of 2.29 million views over 90 days (5,892 channels, daily snapshots from June to October 2026). That is under a quarter of the 10 million Shorts views in 90 days the Shorts route into the Partner Program needs, which is why most channels qualify on watch hours instead.
Directory figures from the PlayerSells YouTube catalogue (channel table and daily view snapshots), 10 October 2026. Thresholds from YouTube Help, answer 72851.
How the monetization signal works
YouTube does not publish whether a channel is in the Partner Program, and no outside tool can read that status directly. What YouTube's Data API does publish, for every public video, is a field called licensedContent: true when the upload is claimed by a content owner. When a creator turns monetization on, their uploads are claimed by their own partner account, so a monetized channel's uploads carry the flag and a channel outside the program carries none.
A copyright claim by someone else sets the same flag on a single video. That is why the checker never decides from one upload. It reads the latest 20 uploads that are at least 48 hours old and calls a channel monetized when at least half of them are marked. A small channel under 500 subscribers with marked uploads is reported as claimed by others, because it cannot be in any tier of the program.
Read the result as a strong public signal, not as YouTube's own record. A channel whose monetization was removed last week can still show marked uploads until YouTube updates them, and a newly accepted channel may show unmarked older videos for a while.
YouTube monetization requirements in 2026
The Partner Program has two tiers. Both also require following YouTube's monetization policies, living in a country where the program runs, two-step verification on the Google account and no active Community Guidelines strike.
| Requirement | Ad revenue | Fan funding | How this tool measures it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 1,000 | 500 | Exact below 1,000; YouTube rounds larger counts to three significant figures. |
| Public uploads, last 90 days | Not required | 3 | Exact, from the upload dates of the latest 100 uploads. |
| Watch hours, last 12 months | 4,000 | 3,000 | Estimated: views of long videos published in the last 12 months times 30% to 50% of their length, capped at 12 and 20 minutes a view. |
| Or Shorts views, last 90 days | 10,000,000 | 3,000,000 | A floor: views of Shorts published in the last 90 days. Older Shorts still collecting views are not visible. |
An upload counts as a Short at 180 seconds or less if it went up after 15 October 2024, when YouTube raised the Shorts limit to three minutes, and at 60 seconds or less before that. Live streams that stay public count as long-form.
What the earnings line assumes
When a channel is monetized or clears the bar, the result adds an ad revenue range: the views its uploads of the last 90 days have collected, at $1.00 to $5.00 per 1,000 long-form views (the same band the PlayerSells YouTube Money Calculator uses) and $0.03 to $0.07 per 1,000 Shorts views, divided by three for a month.
Both bands are assumptions, not YouTube figures. RPM, what a creator keeps per 1,000 views after YouTube's share, moves most with the niche and the audience's country: finance and software channels with US viewers sit well above the band, entertainment channels with a global audience below it. Shorts revenue is pooled and shared by view share, which is why it runs one to two orders of magnitude under long-form.
What it cannot tell you
- Whether a channel is in good standing. Strikes, limited ads on single videos and policy reviews are private.
- Exact watch hours. Average view duration is visible only to the channel owner, so the range rests on a stated assumption.
- Views older videos earned this year. The public API shows a video's lifetime views, not views by date, so both 12-month and 90-day figures count recent uploads only.
- Earnings from memberships, Super Thanks, Shopping or sponsorships, none of which are public.
Put this checker on your site
The checker as a frame for a blog post, a creator resource page or a course. It runs the same lookup as this page, with the same limits, and resizes to its result.
<iframe src="https://playersells.com/embed/tool/youtube-monetization-checker" title="YouTube Monetization Checker" width="100%" height="720" style="border:0;max-width:720px;border-radius:12px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:13px;margin:6px 0 0">Free YouTube monetization checker by <a href="https://playersells.com/tools/youtube-monetization-checker">PlayerSells</a></p>
<script>addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e.origin!=="https://playersells.com"||!e.data||!e.data.psEmbedHeight)return;document.querySelectorAll('iframe[src^="https://playersells.com/embed/"]').forEach(function(f){if(f.contentWindow===e.source)f.style.height=e.data.psEmbedHeight+"px"})})</script>Frequently asked questions
How can I check if a YouTube channel is monetized?
Paste the channel's @handle or link into the checker. It reads the latest uploads through YouTube's Data API and looks for the claimed-content marker that monetized uploads carry. If at least half of the recent uploads have it and the channel has 500 or more subscribers, the channel is almost certainly monetized.
Is the result official?
No. YouTube does not publish Partner Program status for any channel, so every outside checker reads public signals. This one says which signal it read and how many uploads it was based on, so you can judge it yourself.
What are the YouTube monetization requirements?
For ad revenue: 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days. The lower fan-funding tier asks for 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in 90 days and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. Both need a country where the program runs and no active strike.
How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube?
500 subscribers opens the fan-funding tier (memberships, Super Thanks, Shopping) in the countries that have it, and 1,000 opens ad revenue. Subscribers alone are never enough: the watch-hour or Shorts-view requirement has to be met as well.
Do YouTube Shorts count toward monetization?
Yes, as a separate route: 10 million public Shorts views in 90 days instead of 4,000 watch hours. Shorts views do not count toward watch hours. This checker counts an upload as a Short at up to three minutes from 15 October 2024 and up to 60 seconds before that, the limits YouTube applied at the time.
Why does a big channel show no monetization marker?
Usually because monetization is switched off, on purpose or by YouTube, or the channel never applied. Channels set up for a brand, a government body or an archive often have large audiences and no ads.
Does checking a channel notify its owner or cost anything?
No to both. The checker reads only public data through YouTube's API, the owner is not told, and there is no sign-up or fee.
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Buying or selling YouTube accounts?
PlayerSells holds the buyer's payment in escrow until the account has been handed over and checked, so neither side has to trust a stranger.
PlayerSells is not affiliated with YouTube or Google. Channel data is read live from the YouTube Data API v3; directory figures are from the PlayerSells YouTube catalogue, measured 10 October 2026. Partner Program thresholds from YouTube Help (answer 72851), checked 10 October 2026.