In a significant development for content creators and the digital media landscape, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that YouTube Shorts’ revenue per watch-hour has reached parity with the platform’s traditional long-form content in several key markets, including the United States.

“It’s something that we have been working on for a while and it’s a testament to both the viewer side, but also the quality of the ad products that we build for our advertisers,” Mohan told attendees at an investor conference hosted by MoffettNathanson on Thursday, as reported by The Wrap.

This milestone represents a remarkable evolution for the short-form video format, which YouTube launched in 2020 as a competitor to TikTok. According to Mohan, Shorts’ monetization rate now exceeds the core business in some countries, marking a turning point in YouTube’s diversified content strategy.

Growth Metrics and Creator Adoption

The platform’s short-form content has seen substantial growth, with viewership increasing 20% year-over-year during the first quarter of 2025. Approximately 70% of YouTube channels now upload Shorts content, demonstrating widespread creator adoption of the format.

“Especially for younger audiences, viewing video is increasingly participatory in nature,” Mohan explained. “They want to jump in themselves and participate in that creation process. And Shorts just makes that easy and straightforward.”

This growth occurs as YouTube viewing on television screens surpassed mobile viewing during Q1 2025, highlighting the platform’s multi-device strategy paying dividends.

Monetization Structure

The revenue model for YouTube Shorts differs significantly from the platform’s traditional content. According to Stack Influence, while regular YouTube videos provide creators with 55% of ad revenue (with YouTube taking 45%), the revenue split for Shorts is reversed—creators receive 45% of ad revenue while YouTube retains 55%.

Industry data published by Zebracat AI shows that Shorts monetization accounted for 22% of YouTube’s total ad revenue distribution in 2025, up from 15% in 2024, indicating the growing financial importance of the format.

Creator Earnings

For creators wondering about potential earnings, the numbers vary based on content length and engagement. According to industry analysis, the average Short between 40-50 seconds long has an RPM (revenue per mile) of approximately $0.065, while videos between 10-20 seconds generate around $0.055 per thousand impressions.

This translates to approximately $50-$70 in earnings for videos that achieve one million views—significantly lower than traditional YouTube content on a per-view basis, but potentially more accessible for creators to produce at volume.

Strategic Importance

The announcement came just one day after YouTube’s upfront presentation to advertisers, where the company highlighted that its ad campaigns on connected TVs drove over 50 million monthly average conversions in Q4 2024.

The monetization parity achievement represents a critical win for YouTube’s strategy to compete with TikTok while maintaining its dominance in the digital video space. Nielsen data consistently ranks YouTube as the leader in streaming watch time in the U.S., a position the platform appears determined to defend through its multi-format approach.

For creators, the evolving ecosystem presents both challenges and opportunities. While the revenue share is lower than traditional YouTube content, the format’s growing popularity and engagement levels—particularly among younger viewers—offer potential pathways to audience growth and monetization that complement longer-form content strategies.

As YouTube continues to refine its Shorts monetization model, creators who can effectively leverage both short and long-form content may find themselves best positioned to capitalize on the platform’s evolving revenue landscape.