YouTube Shorts Fund Replacement in 2026: Ad Revenue Sharing Explained

The YouTube Shorts Fund was a $100 million annual pool distributed to creators who made popular Shorts. Each month, YouTube invited thousands of creators to claim bonuses ranging from $100 to $10,000 based on their Shorts' viewership and engagement. The fund operated from 2021 to early 2023.

Problems with the old fund:
- Unpredictable: You had no way to know if you would be selected or how much you would receive
- Low payouts relative to views: Creators with millions of Shorts views sometimes received only $100-$200
- Invitation-only: Not all eligible creators were invited each month
- No transparency: The selection criteria were opaque

The replacement — YPP ad revenue sharing:
Starting February 2023, YouTube rolled Shorts monetization into the YouTube Partner Program. Instead of a fixed fund, creators now earn a share of ad revenue from ads displayed between Shorts in the feed. This is permanent, transparent, and tied directly to your view count.

The trade-off: the per-view rate under ad revenue sharing is extremely low ($0.04-$0.10 per 1,000 views), and some creators who received top-tier Shorts Fund payouts actually earned more under the old system. However, for the majority of creators, the new system is more predictable and accessible.

The mechanics of Shorts ad revenue sharing differ from long-form video monetization:

Step 1: Ads play between Shorts in the feed. These are not ads on your specific Short — they appear in the gaps as viewers swipe through the feed.

Step 2: All Shorts feed ad revenue is pooled globally. YouTube does not attribute specific ad revenue to specific Shorts. Instead, all money from Shorts feed ads goes into a single pool.

Step 3: Creator share is calculated based on views. Your share of the pool equals your share of total monetized Shorts views. If your Shorts received 0.001% of all Shorts views, you get 0.001% of the creator pool.

Step 4: Music licensing deductions. If your Short uses licensed music, a portion of the revenue allocated to that Short goes to music rights holders before you see it. Using original audio avoids this deduction.

Step 5: 45/55 split. From your allocated share, you keep 45% and YouTube keeps 55%. Note this is less favorable than the 55/45 split on long-form content.

The result for US creators is an effective RPM of $0.04-$0.10. At the current scale of Shorts advertising revenue and total Shorts views, the per-view payout is roughly 50-100x lower than long-form content. YouTube has indicated that Shorts ad revenue may increase over time as advertisers become more comfortable with the format.

Who earns more under the new system:
- Creators with consistent, moderate Shorts viewership (100K-5M views/month) who were not reliably selected for the fund
- Creators in the YouTube Partner Program who previously did not qualify for fund invitations
- Creators who post frequently and maintain steady view counts

Who earns less under the new system:
- Creators who consistently received top-tier fund payouts ($5,000-$10,000/month)
- Creators with viral one-off Shorts that would have qualified for large fund bonuses
- Creators with very high view counts in low-CPM markets (the fund paid the same regardless of viewer geography)

For most US creators, the new system pays comparably or slightly less per view, but is more reliable.

Math comparison: Under the fund, a creator with 10M Shorts views might receive $500-$2,000 if selected. Under ad revenue sharing at $0.07 RPM, 10M views = $700. The new system falls within the same range but arrives automatically rather than through an unpredictable selection process.

The major advantage of the new system is predictability. You can calculate expected Shorts earnings based on your view count, plan content strategy accordingly, and receive payments every month without waiting for an invitation.