YouTube is changing the monetisation eligibility criteria for creators. From 1 of Feb of 2027, if you are not part of YPP (YouTube Partner Program), it will be more difficult to get into YPP, as they are now updating YPP so creators have to collect 8000 watch hours or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 365 days to get into YPP.
YouTube also announced Premium Lite. It will remove ads for kids and reduce ads for regular viewers, but you'll still see ads in search, music videos, and on Shorts.
You can read about many more updates from Google by following this link.
As a fellow YouTube creator, I'm also not part of YPP, and I don't even have confidence that I will meet the current monetisation criteria, but I'm still in favour of YouTube. Why? Because after TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, too many creators are producing cluttered content and uploading to YouTube, so it will reduce a huge amount of trash content.
Whatever, as a genuine creator, we have to produce high-quality content and meet the criteria to get into YPP.