Video sharing platform will make it easier for content creators to enter its partner program in a move to outbid its competitor TikTok LONDON: YouTube is expected to introduce new ways for creators to monetize their content on the platform, an audio leaked from a staff meeting reveals. The news is likely to be made public at a company event on Tuesday. According to the leaked audio, YouTube will also introduce ads to Shorts, a short-form video sharing platform similar to TikTok. The platform seeks to make it easier for content creators to enter its partner program. This plan will allow a broader pool of creators the opportunity to earn money from the platform. According to what was announced in the meeting by Amjad Hanif, vice president of product management and creator products, “it is the largest expansion we (YouTube) have done in several years creating new ways for creators to join the program.” Under the current rules, the platform’s creators could only earn money if their videos were watched for at least 4,000 hours and they had at least 1,000 subscribers. Alphabet, which owns Youtube and Google, has recently faced intense scrutiny from regulators and government bodies over its market dominance and earlier this week lost an appeal against an EU antitrust regulator for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals. Experts warn that the $4.13 billion fine will offer a precedent for other regulators to ratchet up the pressure. To defend its position, YouTube issued a report in conjunction with Oxford Economics that highlighted the economic, societal and cultural benefits of the platform. YouTube said it had contributed $25 billion to the US economy in 2021, created the equivalent of 425,000 full-time jobs and helped 85 percent of YouTube creators with small businesses expand their companies. Although YouTube has been the web’s most popular platform for watching videos for the last 15 years, in recent months it has suffered the rise in popularity of the short video app TikTok, which prompted the US giant to relax its rules around content creation and monetization. With the introduction of Shorts, YouTube decided to engage in direct competition with TikTok for a slice of the market, and the review of its guidelines to enter its partner program is a way to attract more talents and content creators to its platforms. The change of policies will “really help creators understand why YouTube is the place to start their Shorts career,” Hanif said in the meeting audio.