YouTube is making it harder to earn money on YouTube

The gold rush just got a hard stop. YouTube's February 2027 hike — requiring 8,000 annual watch hours or 20 million Shorts views alongside that 1,000-subscriber floor — isn't a tweak; it's a declaration that the long-tail economy is over. The crown isn't for miners anymore; it's for established producers. This isn't about inflation. It's about curation. With AI slop flooding every corner of the feed, YouTube is using money as its most effective content filter. If you can't command sustained attention, the monetization door stays shut. It also quietly consolidates power: bigger channels get the AdSense oxygen, while everyone else subsidizes the algorithm's content library at a loss. Connect the dots. Spotify raised artist thresholds, X gutted payouts, Twitch flexed on subscription revenue. Platform monetization is contracting everywhere — becoming a premium club rather than a public utility. The "creator middle class" isn't just shrinking; someone is pulling the ladder up into the clubhouse. YouTube's next