YouTube doesn't publish which channels are monetized. What it does show, on every channel and video page, is a set of signals. Put them together and you can make a pretty good call. Here's what to look at and how much each signal is worth.
Start with the requirements
According to YouTube Help, a channel has to meet one of these thresholds and then pass a YouTube Partner Program (YPP) review before it can share in ad revenue:
- 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or
- 1,000 subscribers and 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
So the subscriber count is the first thing to check. A channel with fewer than 1,000 subscribers is unlikely to be monetized, even if you see ads on its videos.
Three signals you can see
- A Join button. Channel memberships can only be turned on by channels in the Partner Program, so a Join button on the channel page is a very strong sign.
- Ads on videos. A pre-roll or a mid-roll is a good sign, but not proof. YouTube can show ads on videos from channels outside the program, and on videos with a copyright claim the money goes to the rights holder.
- Mid-roll breaks. On videos 8 minutes or longer, set mid-roll positions usually mean someone turned ads on for that video. That makes them a stronger signal than a pre-roll alone.
What you see also depends on you. An ad blocker, your country or your consent settings can hide ads that other viewers get. Checking by hand means switching off the ad blocker and opening several videos, which takes a while.
How our Monetization Checker helps
Paste a video URL, a channel URL or an @handle into the Monetization Checker. You don't need to sign in.
For a video, we read the ad settings YouTube sends along with the page: whether ads are on for that view, and how many pre-roll and mid-roll placements there are. For a channel, we combine the ad signals from several recent public videos with whether the Join button is there. The verdict is one of three: likely monetized, probably not monetized, or can't tell. Each comes with a confidence level and the signals behind it.
The limits, stated plainly:
- Every result reflects one moment and one region. The same video can look different an hour later or from another country.
- Private, age-restricted and members-only videos show no ad signals, so they come back as "can't tell".
- It's an estimate built from public data. Only YouTube can confirm monetization officially.
Worth keeping in mind
- Checking a channel is more reliable than checking a single video, because the result pools several videos.
- No ads doesn't mean something is wrong. Some videos have limited ads because of their topic or their settings.
- Treat monetization status as context, not as a score for a channel.