Aussie creators can now access the YouTube Shorts fund to encourage more content

Aussie YouTube creators will have access to more monetisation options from today with the platform opening access to the YouTube Shorts fund in Australia and 29 other countries.

YouTube’s answer to their short-form video competitor, TikTok, launched in the US in March before expanding to more markets, including Australia, in July. The Shorts fund was initially announced for US-based YouTube creators back in May, but is available in Australia from today.

The $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund will pay creators anywhere from $100 to $10,000 based on viewership and engagement on their Shorts over the course of 2021-2022. 

To be eligible for the payments, YouTube has provided some guidelines for creators which include having uploaded at least one eligible Short in the last 180 days and not including a watermark from a ‘third-party platform’ some of the key factors. 

YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl announced the expansion on the YouTube blog today. The $100 million fund expands on the $30 billion that YouTube says they’ve paid to creators, artists and media companies over the last three years, says Mr Kyncl, who also said the company paid out more to YouTube Creators and partners in Q2 2021 than in any previous quarter.

The input of funds to encourage Shorts content is a good start, though competitor TikTok announced this week that they had reached 1 billion users. Unofficial numbers for YouTube though sit at over 2 billion active users as of last year, so there’s definitely some competition here.

I’ve been enjoying content on both TikTok and YouTube Shorts of late and I can’t wait to see what new content this encourages.