This study examines the causal impact of YouTube Shorts' ad-revenue sharing policy on creator production strategies in the short-form video creator economy.
Using 36,507 videos from 342 top global channels, we employ a regression discontinuity in time design. Computer vision techniques measure four attributes of each creator's production strategy: output volume, video length, editing pace, and content novelty.
The policy drove an immediate reduction in video length without expanding output volume, consistent with substitution toward cheaper per-unit configurations rather than output scaling. Entertainment creators shortened their videos most sharply, while informative creators slowed their editing pace to preserve comprehension. Long-type creators pursued per-unit cost reduction, while short-type creators invested in content novelty.
The sample covers top-tier global channels, so emerging creators may respond differently. The findings show that the quantity-expansion result from low-marginal-cost user-generated content settings does not extend to high-marginal-cost production, where incentives reallocate effort within existing output rather than expand it.
A uniform monetization policy does not produce uniform outcomes. Incentive design should anticipate that creators adjust different production attributes depending on their content goals and capabilities.
This study provides causal evidence that performance-contingent monetization reshapes production strategy in a high-cost video production context and that one platform-wide policy generates different responses across creator types.
