Free Tool
YouTube Watch Hours Calculator
The Partner Program bar doubles on 1 February 2027 — from 4,000 to 8,000 qualified watch hours. This calculator shows how many months your current pace needs under either bar.
Planning estimate, not financial advice. All figures on this page are estimates or scenarios for planning purposes only, built from the numbers you enter. They are not financial, tax or legal advice, and no earnings are promised. Read the full financial disclaimer.
What this tool does
Enter the watch hours you already have, your average view duration and your monthly views, then pick the bar that applies: 4,000 hours for applications before 1 February 2027, or 8,000 hours for new applicants from that date. The calculator shows the hours still needed, the views that will take, and the months at your current pace — for long-form and, in the second mode, for the Shorts-view route.
The deadline matters more than the number. Creators already in the program are not affected, and the 1,000-subscriber requirement does not change — but a new applicant who misses the January window faces double the hours. Watching the gap shrink month by month is the point of the countdown.
Try it
Waiting. Enter your current hours, view duration and monthly views, then press Calculate.
How it works
Hours still needed are the target minus the hours you have, floored at zero. Views needed are the hours needed multiplied by sixty, divided by the average view duration in minutes. Months are views needed divided by monthly views. Your current pace in hours a month is monthly views multiplied by average duration, divided by sixty.
The Shorts route is separate: views needed are the target minus current qualified Shorts views, and months are views needed divided by monthly Shorts views. Shorts feed views do not count toward the long-form hour bar, and long-form hours do not count toward the Shorts bar.
Assumptions and limitations
Thresholds are YouTube’s, as announced on 10 August 2026 and last checked on 15 November 2026.
- The 8,000-hour / 20-million-view bar applies to new applicants for ad revenue from 1 February 2027. Creators already in the Partner Program are not affected, but must accept updated terms by 31 January 2027.
- Only qualified watch hours count: public long-form videos, including podcasts, and archived live streams. Shorts feed views, private videos and deleted videos do not count.
- The 1,000-subscriber requirement does not change, and the lower fan-funding tier (500 subscribers, 3,000 hours or 3 million Shorts views) does not move either.
- Pace is assumed steady. A viral month shortens the countdown and a quiet month lengthens it — re-run the numbers monthly.
Worked example
Example (illustrative inputs, not a real channel). 1,500 hours banked, 6-minute average view duration, 20,000 views a month, 4,000-hour bar:
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Hours still needed | 2,500 |
| Views needed (2,500 × 60 ÷ 6) | 25,000 |
| Current pace | 2,000 hours a month |
| Months to the bar | 1.3 months |
| Same pace against the 8,000-hour bar | 3.3 months |
Frequently asked questions
What changes on 1 February 2027?
For new applicants to the ad-revenue tier, the bar doubles: 4,000 qualified watch hours becomes 8,000, and 10 million qualified Shorts views becomes 20 million. The 1,000-subscriber requirement does not change, and creators already in the program are not affected.
Do Shorts views count toward the 4,000 hours?
No. Shorts feed views do not count toward the watch-hour bar at all — they count only toward the separate Shorts-view route. Long-form hours and Shorts views are two different paths to the same program.
What counts as a qualified watch hour?
Watch time on public long-form videos, including podcasts, and on archived live streams. Private, unlisted and deleted videos do not count, and neither does watch time from the Shorts feed.
If I already have 4,000 hours, am I safe?
Only if you apply and are accepted before the bar moves, or if you are already in the program. Hours alone do not grant membership — the subscriber bar and YouTube’s review still apply.