Ad status is not public, and tools that claim to see it are guessing. What can be checked honestly: how a channel measures against the real Partner Program thresholds, with the public numbers fetched from YouTube and the private ones from your Studio.
Data from YouTube
Recent checks
How it works
The checker fetches the channel's public record from YouTube's official API: subscribers, public video count, and creation date. It then evaluates the two Partner Program gates. Full monetization needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. The fan-funding tier needs 500 subscribers, 3 recent uploads, and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. Watch hours and Shorts-feed views are private, so those rows use the numbers you type from YouTube Studio. When they are blank, the rows read "needs your Studio numbers", never a guess.
Every row states its source: fetched from YouTube, entered by you, or unknown. Subscriber counts are the rounded public figures, so borderline cases are flagged as borderline. The report also says plainly what no tool can say. Whether ads run is decided by YouTube's application review, and that is not public data.
Working toward the thresholds? The Video Ideas Generator and Keyword Generator feed the pipeline, and the Channel Analyzer tracks the public counts as you grow.
What the verdicts mean
- Met
- The fetched or entered number clears the threshold.
- Not yet
- Below the threshold. The row shows the gap.
- Borderline
- Within the rounding of YouTube's published count. Only Studio knows.
- Needs your Studio numbers
- A private metric left blank. Nobody outside the channel can see it.
- Gate verdicts
- Whether the full-YPP and fan-funding requirement sets are met by the numbers available.
Frequently asked questions
Can a tool tell whether a channel is monetized?
No. YouTube does not publish ad status anywhere: not on the channel page and not in the API. Sites that claim to detect it guess from ad markers in the page, and that fails all the time. What can be checked is what this page checks: how the channel measures against the real Partner Program thresholds, using YouTube's official numbers for the public parts.
What are the YouTube monetization requirements?
Full monetization means ads and all revenue features. It needs 1,000 subscribers plus one of two watch-time gates. The gates are 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 10 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days. You also need policy standing, 2-step verification, and an AdSense account. A lower fan-funding tier opens earlier: 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. It unlocks memberships, Supers, and shopping. Requirements vary a little by country and change over time. YouTube's own YPP page is the final word.
Why does it ask me for watch hours and Shorts views?
Because they are private. Only the channel owner sees them, in YouTube Studio's analytics. The checker fetches what is public (subscribers, video count, channel age) and takes the private two from you. Leave them blank and those rows read "needs your Studio numbers" rather than a guess. That split is what makes the verdicts trustworthy.
The checker says the thresholds are met; why is the channel not earning?
The thresholds are necessary but not enough on their own. After reaching them, a channel must apply, pass YouTube's review of its content against the monetization policies, link AdSense, and stay in policy standing. Reused content and repetitive content are the common reasons for rejection. The checker measures the numeric gates. The review is YouTube's.
Can I check someone else's channel?
Yes, for the public half. Subscribers, uploads, and age come from YouTube for any channel. The watch-hours row will read as unknown, because nobody outside the channel can see it. So the verdict for another channel is "meets or does not meet the public requirements", which is usually what the question means.
Do Shorts views count toward the 4,000 watch hours?
No. The two routes are separate. Watch hours count long-form and live viewing. Shorts feed views count only toward the Shorts route, which is 10 million in 90 days for full YPP. A hybrid channel can qualify through either gate, so the checker evaluates both from whichever numbers you provide.
What does the subscriber count rounding mean for the check?
YouTube publishes rounded counts, to three significant figures. So a channel showing exactly 1,000 might sit either side of the line internally. Near a threshold, the owner's Studio count decides. The checker flags the borderline case instead of pretending to be precise.
Is the monetization checker free?
Yes, free with no signup. Each channel lookup draws one from the shared daily allowance shown by the quota chip. Once you are monetized, the RPM & CPM Calculator turns Analytics numbers into your real rates, and the Money Calculator estimates earnings from views.