How to Get 4000 Watch Hours on YouTube: 4 Easy Ways to Increase Watch Time and Start Getting Paid

Are you a YouTube content creator ready to monetize your videos and bring in the big bucks? Well, not so fast there, hot shot. YouTube doesn’t just let anyone monetize their content. Before you can start getting those fat checks from YouTube, you have to do something for YouTube first.

Not only do you need to launch a channel and go through all of the setup and verification steps, but YouTube also requires content creators to reach a specific total amount of watch time before they can access all of YouTube’s Partner Program’s perks and features.

So, to help you on your journey to YouTube monetization success, let’s go over the basics of how YouTube monetization works as well as provide some tips to help you reach the minimum YouTube watch time to monetize content on the platform.

How does YouTube watch time work?

Before diving into tips for reaching this magical threshold for full monetization, let’s review some basics. What is YouTube watch time? YouTube watch time is the metric YouTube uses to decide the total number of minutes viewers have spent watching your content on YouTube.

As we’ve covered on the blog in the past, there’s a lot to learn about how YouTube monetization works. The basics are as follows: You’ll need to be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program (aka the YPP) before you can start monetizing your content.

YouTube has its own monetization policies, which dictate that users follow YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and Google AdSense program policies. If you can follow those guidelines and policies, the next step is to reach YouTube’s required watch time for monetization.

Curious how much watch time is required for monetization? Well, the answer isn’t a mystery, YouTube currently dictates that YouTube channels must at least get 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours annually before they can start earning from YouTube.

Four tips for how to get 4000 watch hours on YouTube and start getting paid

Now that your watch time goal has been stated, let’s explore how to get 4000 watch hours on YouTube and start building up your partner revenue.

Pick a good title and thumbnail

Our first tip is the same piece of advice that you’ll find across pretty much any YouTube video recommendations. Yet, it still can’t be understated how important the titles and thumbnails of your videos are. Here’s an excerpt from YouTube’s Creator Tips page, where they outline the importance of titles and thumbnails:

“How can your audience tell what your video is about? Usually, viewers will first see your thumbnail and title. This info gives them a glimpse of what your video is about and helps them decide if they want to watch it. Fun fact: 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails.”

If you want to increase watch time to 4000 youtube watch hours, you have to get viewers to click on your videos in the first place. So don’t ignore these! If you can find a solid title and thumbnail combo, you’ll be well on your way to hitting your watch time goals.

Only use royalty free music in your videos

Our next tip concerns music in YouTube videos, a topic we know quite a bit about. Using high-quality music in your videos is one of the best ways to boost your content's quality and watchability.

Using royalty free music properly secured from a trusted music licensing company like Soundstripe is also pretty much the only way you can fully ensure that your YouTube videos won’t ever violate copyright regulations and be liable to be taken down.

We’ve covered these issues quite a bit in the past on the Soundstripe blog, so if you’re curious about what royalty free music is and the importance of properly licensing music for your YouTube videos, check out some of these articles below.

Furthermore, if you’d like to explore some actual royalty free music hand-picked specifically to be used on your YouTube videos, check out this full article of recommendations—or feel free to listen through a few of the options shared below.

1. Bottleneck by Neon Beach

Description: A medium-energy, electronic song best described as fun and happy. Bass and bass guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 111
Key: F Major
Listen and license here.

2. Fading Amber by Lunareh

Description: A low-energy, electronic song that is best described as chill and reflective. Synth and piano are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 108
Key: B Major
Listen and license here.

3. Shoreline by PALA

Description: A medium-energy, electronic song that is best described as chill and happy. Ambient tones and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 102
Key: E Major
Listen and license here.

4. Promised Land by Brian Brown

Description: A medium-energy, hip-hop song that is best described as happy and hopeful. Bass and bass guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
BPM: 96
Key: A Major
Listen and license here.

5. Anybody Out There? by Mikey Geiger

Description: A medium-energy, electronic song that is best described as chill and fun. Synth is the primary instrument in this track.
BPM: 140
Key: Eb/D# Major
Listen and license here.

Understand the YouTube algorithm

Another topic we’ve covered a bit on the Soundstripe blog in the past is still a very important one. Understanding how the YouTube algorithm works is key to success on this popular social video platform.

In short, here are some of the main types of data that YouTube’s algorithm takes into account when deciding whether or not to recommend your videos to more potential viewers:

What users search for
What users click to watch
What users don’t click to watch
What users click like or dislike
What users comment on
How long users watch or don’t watch
What channels do users subscribe to
What ads do users respond to

As for what other metrics YouTube keeps and insights into how to hack YouTube’s algorithm to your advantage check out our full article on understanding YouTube’s algorithm here.

Focus on watchability and value

Finally, without getting too preachy here, the best advice you’ll ever truly get regarding how to start earning from YouTube is to simply focus on yourself and the quality of your content.It will be tricky if you’re looking to just play the game and find success with minimal effort.

However, if you do your research, find a niche that you actually care about, and then create quality and sincere content about a topic that you’re passionate about, you’re much more likely to hit your goals.

Focus on creating videos that feel watchable from start to finish and provide your viewers with something of value. Whether that be useful advice or simply entertainment, give your viewers something worth coming back for, and you know what—they’ll actually come back.