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Comparisons October 4, 2026 2 min read· YouCast Team

Eligibility Windows: YouTube Counts 12 Months, Twitch Counts 30 Days

Why the time window behind a monetization threshold changes how you should plan streaming: 12 months and 90 days on YouTube, 30 days on Twitch.

YouTube Partner Program Twitch Affiliate monetization thresholds growth planning
Cover graphic with the headline "12 MONTHS VS 30 DAYS" and a calendar with YouTube and Twitch icons
In this article · 4 sections

The Windows

Bar chart of monetization time windows: YouTube 12 months and 90 days, Twitch 30 days
Twelve months, ninety days and thirty days.
  • YouTube, watch hours path: 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months, with 1,000 subscribers.
  • YouTube, Shorts path: 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, with 1,000 subscribers.
  • Twitch Affiliate: all four requirements within the same 30-day period, tracked in the Achievements section.

What a Window Does to Planning

A 12-month window rewards steady output. Hours earned a year ago drop out, so a channel that grows slowly but consistently can get there, and a burst followed by silence can fall back below the line. A 30-day window rewards a focused push, and a single good month can be enough.

Twitch also tells streamers that progress shown in the Achievements section covers the last 30 days only, while the dashboard shows all-time numbers, which is why the figures can differ.

Comparison of planning around a 12 month window on YouTube and a 30 day window on Twitch
Steady for 12 months, focused for 30 days.

These are interpretations of how the published windows behave. The platforms do not describe them as planning advice.

For a 24/7 Channel

  • On YouTube, track your rolling 12-month watch hours, not a single month.
  • Keep the stream public and converted to VOD so its hours qualify.
  • Do not delete old streams that contribute to the 12-month total.
  • Remember that watch hours measure viewing time, which depends on viewers and not on how long you have been live.

Watch Hours vs Stream Hours: Why 24/7 Is Not 168 Watch Hours a Week

How viewer time is counted.

Twitch vs YouTube Monetization

The full comparison.

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YouCast turns the videos you upload into a 24/7 live stream that runs from the cloud, to YouTube and, with a stream key, to Twitch, Kick and Instagram, so there is no encoder to configure, no computer to keep awake and no home upload line to saturate.

Twitch counts a 30-day window, YouTube a 12-month one. For a slower build, a YouCast stream that stays online for months is easier to keep than one you restart by hand.

You can try one stream on the free trial and add more streams as the channel grows.

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