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What YouTube Asks Before It Pays a Creator

Most American adults say they use YouTube. Getting paid by it is another matter. Here is Pew's 2025 count of who uses which platform, and the bar YouTube sets today and from February 1, 2027.

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By , edited by Nora Whitfield

Published · Updated · 4 min read

Fact-checked by Priya Anand

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Which online platform do the most American adults use: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok?

YouTube. In Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey, 84% of U.S. adults said they ever use it, ahead of Facebook at 71%, Instagram at 50% and TikTok at 37%.

Basis for every number below: Pew Research Center, “Americans’ Social Media Use 2025” (survey of 5,022 U.S. adults, February 5 to June 18, 2025), and YouTube’s own published pages on its Partner Program. Platform shares are for U.S. adults; Partner Program rules and counts are global. “Qualified” watch hours and Shorts views have YouTube’s meaning.

Place your bet

Picture a family group chat arguing about where everyone actually spends time online. One cousin insists it is TikTok, because that is where the cousin is. Another says Facebook, because that is where the aunts are. Both are describing their own phones, which is the trouble with counting from the inside.

The answer, by the survey

Pew asked 5,022 U.S. adults from February 5 to June 18, 2025, which sites and apps they ever use, and weighted the results to represent the adult population. YouTube came out on top at 84%. Facebook followed at 71%. Pew writes that half of adults use Instagram, the only other platform in its survey used by at least 50% of Americans. TikTok was at 37% and WhatsApp at 32%.

Bar chart of U.S. adults who say they ever use each platform in 2025: YouTube highest at 84%, WhatsApp lowest at 32%.
Pew Research Center survey of 5,022 U.S. adults, Feb. 5 to June 18, 2025. Weighted. Source: Pew Research Center, Americans' Social Media Use 2025 (Nov 20, 2025). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.

That is roughly five in every six adults (our arithmetic: five sixths is about 83%). “Ever use” is a low bar on purpose. It counts someone who watched one recipe video last spring the same as someone who watches all evening, and it is what people report, not what their screens log. Self-report also shapes dating apps; see people lie on dating profiles.

So how many of those viewers get paid?

What YouTube asks before it pays

Getting a share of ad revenue runs through the YouTube Partner Program, YPP for short. Today a channel is eligible with 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. The two routes are counted separately: watch hours from Shorts do not count toward the 4,000.

In a post dated August 10, 2026, YouTube says that from February 1, 2027, new creators applying for ads and Premium revenue sharing will need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. The change does not affect creators already in the program. The post does not repeat the 1,000 subscriber requirement, while the Help page still lists it, so from the pages we read we cannot say whether it changes for new applicants.

Hitting a number is not the same as getting in. YouTube’s Help page says: “Every channel that meets the threshold will go through a standard review process”. A threshold is a ticket to the queue, not a seat.

What 4,000 and 8,000 hours look like

4,000 hours is about 166.7 days of someone watching nonstop, and 8,000 hours is about 333.3 days (our arithmetic: 4,000 divided by 24, and 8,000 divided by 24). The 2027 bar is close to a year of continuous viewing, collected from an audience rather than one very patient relative. For odds in another creative field, see women and the Pulitzer Prize.

How many get in, and what is not published

YouTube has put the program’s size at “more than 3 million channels” in February 2024, “3 million channels” in March 2025 and “over 3 million creators” in August 2026, a count of channels and creators in the program, not of people.

What we found no figure for, on any page we opened, is how many YouTube channels exist in total, how many members of the program earn any money, or how many earn a living. So the honest comparison stops here: 84% of American adults on one side, a membership count measured in different units on the other, and no published bridge between them.

The short version

YouTube is the most used of the platforms Pew asked about, at 84% of U.S. adults in 2025. Getting paid by it is a separate climb: 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 qualified watch hours or 10 million qualified Shorts views today, and 8,000 hours or 20 million Shorts views for new applicants from February 1, 2027. Meeting the bar earns a review, not a guarantee.

Last checked: 2026-10-19. This article was machine-checked against the sources below and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page.

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What changed
  • Rewritten with current sourced figures; earlier figures were outdated and have been replaced.

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