By Chafik Gharbi ·
Creators in Saudi Arabia can earn from YouTube Shorts and long videos: Google lists Saudi Arabia for the YouTube Partner Program, for its lower 500-subscriber level, and for every fan funding feature we checked. TikTok's main payout, the Creator Rewards Program, isn't open to creators based in Saudi Arabia according to the country list in TikTok's own Creator Academy, and you can check your own status in YouTube Studio under Earn and in TikTok Studio under Monetization.
Every fact in this guide comes from a page published by Google, TikTok, Meta or Saudi Arabia's media regulator, checked on 23 October 2026, and each one names its source. Country lists change without notice, so treat that date as part of the answer and check again before you plan around it.
The short answer, platform by platform
YouTube Partner Program: open in Saudi Arabia, from 500 subscribers for fan funding and Shopping, and from 1,000 subscribers for a share of ad revenue.
YouTube fan funding: Saudi Arabia is on Google's lists for channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and gifts bought with Jewels.
TikTok Creator Rewards Program: Saudi Arabia isn't among the eight countries TikTok lists.
Instagram Reels: Saudi Arabia isn't on Meta's lists for Gifts or Subscriptions.
Getting paid: YouTube pays through AdSense for YouTube, and Google marks check and wire transfer as available in Saudi Arabia.
YouTube: Saudi Arabia is on both Partner Program lists
Google's availability page lists Saudi Arabia among the places where "You can sign up for the YouTube Partner Program" (support.google.com/youtube/answer/7101720). Saudi Arabia is also on the separate list for the expanded Partner Program (support.google.com/youtube/answer/13429240), so a channel there can join in two steps.
The first step needs 500 subscribers and 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, plus either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. It opens fan funding (channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers, Super Thanks, Jewels and gifts) and Shopping, each with its own eligibility rules.
The second step adds a share of revenue from ads and YouTube Premium. Until 1 February 2027 it needs 1,000 subscribers with either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days (support.google.com/youtube/answer/72851). Watch hours from Shorts in the Shorts feed don't count toward the 4,000, so a channel that posts only Shorts qualifies through the views route.
Google's requirements page also asks you to live in a country where the program is available, follow YouTube's channel monetization policies, have no active Community Guidelines strikes, turn on 2-Step Verification, have advanced features access and link one active AdSense for YouTube account. You apply in YouTube Studio under Earn; reviewers look at the channel as a whole, and Google says a decision typically takes about a month.
Fan funding: Saudi Arabia is on all four lists
Not every Partner Program country is on YouTube's fan funding lists, and Google keeps a separate list for each feature. Saudi Arabia was on all four on 23 October 2026.
Channel memberships, which viewers pay for every month (support.google.com/youtube/answer/7636690).
Super Chat and Super Stickers, which viewers buy during live streams and Premieres (support.google.com/youtube/answer/9277801).
Super Thanks, which viewers buy on long videos and on Shorts (support.google.com/youtube/answer/10879035).
Gifts, which viewers unlock by buying Jewels and send during live streams, earning the creator Rubies (support.google.com/youtube/answer/15535963).
For a channel that posts only Shorts, Super Thanks is the feature that sits on the videos themselves, while Super Chat, Super Stickers and gifts happen in live streams. Each comes with its own conditions, including rules about content set as made for kids, and Google says the Supers and gifts options appear in the Earn section of YouTube Studio once you have access.
What changes on 1 February 2027
Google has announced that from that date, new applicants for the ads and Premium level will need 1,000 subscribers plus 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, while channels already in the program keep their status (support.google.com/youtube/answer/12843009). Members will also need 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days to earn from the Shorts Creator Pool in a given month, though falling short doesn't remove a channel from the program or affect its long-form earnings. Google says the fan funding and Shopping thresholds won't change, so the 500-subscriber route described above stays as it is. Members need to accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027.
Getting paid in Saudi Arabia: AdSense for YouTube
Google pays Partner Program earnings through AdSense for YouTube. Its table of payment methods for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (support.google.com/youtube/answer/14728152, which matches the combined AdSense table at support.google.com/adsense/answer/1714397) shows this for Saudi Arabia:
Check: available.
Wire transfer: available.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT): not available.
PayPal Hyperwallet: not available.
Google's page on Western Union Quick Cash (support.google.com/adsense/answer/2850006) lists Saudi Arabia too, with US dollars as the payment currency and 2,500 USD as the limit for a single payment; a larger payment is split into several. You must collect a Western Union payment within 60 days, in the country it was sent to, and Google says it doesn't charge a fee for receiving one.
Three rules from Google's payment FAQ are worth knowing first. If a method doesn't appear on your "Add payment method" page, it isn't available in your country; your bank or branch must be in the same country as the address in your payments settings; and your payment currency can't be changed. Wire transfers go out "in U.S. dollars or Euros, depending on your account currency" (support.google.com/adsense/answer/3372975).
For accounts in US dollars, Google's threshold table (support.google.com/adsense/answer/1709871) sets $10 as the balance needed to choose a payment method and $100 as the payment threshold. Once your balance passes it with no holds on the account, Google issues the payment between the 21st and the 26th of the month, and it says a check can take as long as four weeks to arrive (support.google.com/adsense/answer/7164703).
US tax on earnings from US viewers
Google needs US tax information from every Partner Program creator, wherever they live, and asks for it by 10 December each year (support.google.com/youtube/answer/10391362). With valid tax info, it withholds only on earnings from viewers in the United States, at between 0 and 30% depending on whether your country has a tax treaty with the US; without it, Google may deduct up to 24% of your total earnings worldwide. The withholding covers ads and Premium as well as Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks and memberships, and Google's page gives no rate for Saudi Arabia: AdSense for YouTube shows yours once you've submitted the form. Google says it can't give tax advice, so check your own situation with a tax adviser in Saudi Arabia.
TikTok: Saudi Arabia isn't on the Creator Rewards list
The Creator Rewards Program is TikTok's main payout, for qualified views on original videos at least one minute long. Its Help Center page (support.tiktok.com/en/business-and-creator/creator-rewards-program/creator-rewards-program) says creators must "Be based in one of the countries where the Creator Rewards Program is available", without naming them.
TikTok's Creator Academy article on the program names them (tiktok.com/creator-academy/en/article/creator-rewards-program, last updated 10 September 2026): "The program is currently open to creators in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Mexico, and Brazil, so you must be based in one of these countries and have an account registered there." Saudi Arabia isn't one of the eight, and the article adds that qualified views must come from those countries as well.
The other requirements on the Help Center page are an age of 18 or more (19 in South Korea), a personal account in good standing, 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days.
Don't try to get around the list with a VPN, a foreign SIM or a bought account. TikTok's Help Center asks for "authentic account information, such as your real name and date of birth", lets creators apply only if they "have an account registered in an eligible region", and says account information must not contain a fake name or date of birth. Its Creator Academy adds that a creator who loses access through a violation, such as a permanent ban, will "forfeit any outstanding rewards from the program".
TikTok LIVE, Gifts, Subscription and Shop
TikTok's other monetization features have their own availability, and none of the TikTok pages we checked lists the countries for them. The Help Center says "LIVE and Gift features aren't currently available everywhere". Going LIVE requires you to be 18 with 1,000 followers, a number it says "may vary across regions", and LIVE Gifts require you to "Live in a location where LIVE Gifts is available". Video Gifts, which viewers send on ordinary videos, need 10,000 followers and an account at least 30 days old, and TikTok says the feature "is not available everywhere". When TikTok widened Subscription on 23 September 2024, its newsroom said the feature was "rolling out to eligible creators in select regions".
TikTok's Arabic-language newsroom for the Middle East shows LIVE in use in the Kingdom. A post dated 22 September 2026 describes a TikTok LIVE campaign for Saudi National Day, held from 21 to 27 September, that invited LIVE creators in Saudi Arabia to take part. Neither that post nor the other 2026 posts we read there says which LIVE monetization features creators in Saudi Arabia can use.
TikTok Shop, where creators can earn affiliate commission on products, runs in its own set of countries. TikTok's business help article on setting up a shop (updated June 2026) says Seller Center "is available in Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam", and Saudi Arabia isn't on that list.
The reliable check is your own account: in the TikTok app, tap Profile, then the Menu button, then TikTok Studio, and look under Monetization.
Instagram Reels: not on Meta's lists
Meta's help pages list the countries where creators can earn from Instagram Gifts (help.instagram.com/738469380549477) and offer Instagram Subscriptions (help.instagram.com/478012211024479), and Saudi Arabia wasn't on either list on 23 October 2026. Meta says that if you're eligible for Subscriptions, an option to set them up appears in your Professional dashboard.
The Mawthooq license for advertising content
Saudi Arabia also licenses individuals who advertise on social media. The General Authority for Media Regulation describes its Mawthooq license as a service that "allows individuals to provide advertising content via social media platforms" (gmedia.gov.sa, service page last modified 14 September 2026). The conditions it lists include a minimum age of 18, and a resident or foreign investor must hold a license for advertising and marketing offices and own at least 50% of the company; the license runs for three years and the fee is 15,000 riyals. The page is about advertising content and doesn't mention platform payouts such as YouTube's ad revenue share, so ask the authority if you're unsure whether your plans need it.
Two shapes of faceless channel from Saudi Arabia
We don't publish earnings figures for either shape: what a channel earns depends on its viewers, its niche and the ad market, and nobody can promise a number. Google's analytics help says advertisers choose which geographies their ads reach and that "CPMs will vary by geography" (support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314357), and YouTube shares out the Shorts Creator Pool by each creator's engaged views "in each country" (support.google.com/youtube/answer/12504220).
Arabic-language channels. The channel serves viewers who prefer to watch in Arabic, in Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world. The practical choices are about language: Modern Standard Arabic or Saudi dialect for the voiceover (choose what your viewers expect and stay consistent), captions that read right to left, and topics people search for in Arabic. Test any AI voice and its captions on a few of your own Arabic scripts before you commit to a tool, ShortFast included.
English-language channels. The channel competes with English-language creators everywhere, so they set the bar: scripts that read naturally to an international audience, a voice that suits it, and topics that make sense outside the Gulf. If a large share of the views comes from the United States, the tax section above matters more, because that is the share Google withholds on.
Some creators run one channel in each language. The thresholds and country lists in this guide are the same whichever language you publish in.
What keeps a faceless channel eligible
YouTube reviews faceless channels under the same channel monetization policies as every other channel (support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392), and those policies exclude content that is "mass-produced, generic, repetitive, or manipulative". Their examples include AI-generated videos built on generic templates that add no original insight, and they say that if you use automated tools, "the final product must still demonstrate your creative vision". Videos that only read out text from websites or news feeds fall under the reused content rules even with the original creator's permission, and channels using AI personas presented as human experts on health, legal, financial or political topics can't monetize.
Where ShortFast fits
ShortFast is the AI short-video tool made by SachaSoft LLC, which publishes this blog. It writes the script, builds the scenes in one of 27 visual styles, adds an AI voice and burned-in captions (60+ languages, auto-detected), and posts to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube on a schedule. Plans are Starter $19, Pro $39 and Advanced $99 a month, priced in US dollars, and every monthly plan starts with a 3-day trial for $1, enough time to try the voices and captions on your own scripts.
ShortFast doesn't make a channel eligible for anything: YouTube, TikTok and Meta decide monetization under the rules above, however a video was made. What it saves is production time, which you can spend on the topic, the script and what each video adds.
How to check your own status
YouTube: in YouTube Studio, Earn shows whether you can apply, and Get notified sends you an email when you reach a threshold.
Payments: in AdSense for YouTube, the "Add payment method" page shows the methods open to your payment address.
TikTok: in TikTok Studio, Monetization shows what your account can use.
Instagram: in the app, the Professional dashboard shows whether you can set up Subscriptions.
Everything in this guide was checked on 23 October 2026 against the official pages cited. If YouTube Studio, AdSense or TikTok Studio shows you something different, go by the app and the official pages rather than by this guide.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is YouTube Shorts monetization available in Saudi Arabia?
- Yes. Saudi Arabia is on Google's list of places where you can join the YouTube Partner Program, and on the list for its expanded program (both checked 23 October 2026). With 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days and 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, a channel can apply for fan funding and Shopping. A share of ad revenue needs 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days or 4,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months; from 1 February 2027, new applicants will need 20 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days or 8,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days.
- Is TikTok's Creator Rewards Program available in Saudi Arabia?
- Not according to TikTok's own list. Its Creator Academy article on the program, last updated 10 September 2026, says it is open to creators in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Mexico and Brazil, and that you must be based in one of them with an account registered there. The Help Center page names no countries, so check the Monetization section of TikTok Studio. Don't use a VPN or a foreign account: TikTok requires authentic account information and an account registered in an eligible region.
- How do YouTubers in Saudi Arabia get paid?
- Through AdSense for YouTube. Google's payment table marks check and wire transfer as available for Saudi Arabia, and EFT and PayPal Hyperwallet as not available. Google's Western Union Quick Cash page also lists Saudi Arabia, paid in US dollars with a 2,500 USD limit per payment. Your bank must be in the same country as the address in your payments settings, and for accounts in US dollars the payment threshold is $100, with payments issued between the 21st and the 26th of the month.
- Are channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Thanks available in Saudi Arabia?
- Yes, on Google's lists checked on 23 October 2026. Saudi Arabia is listed for channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and gifts bought with Jewels during live streams. These fan funding features open from 500 subscribers through the expanded Partner Program, which also lists Saudi Arabia, and Google says those thresholds won't change on 1 February 2027. Each feature has its own conditions, including rules about content set as made for kids.
- What is Saudi Arabia's Mawthooq license?
- It's the license Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Media Regulation issues to individuals who provide advertising content on social media platforms. Its service page on gmedia.gov.sa, last modified 14 September 2026, lists conditions including a minimum age of 18, says a resident or foreign investor needs a license for advertising and marketing offices with at least 50% ownership, and gives the fee as 15,000 riyals for a three-year license. The page doesn't mention platform payouts such as YouTube ad revenue, so ask the authority if you're unsure whether your plans need it.