- Recently YouTube made a huge change
to YouTube partner program and to monetization.
As of November 18th of 2020,
YouTube will be running ads on non-monetized videos
and creators who are not in the YouTube Partner Program
will not be paid for the ads on those videos.
Now there's a lot of misinformation going all around
about this and a lot of people are upset
and fearful about what this means for their YouTube channel.
So while I understand people's feelings on this,
I wanna make a video that addresses the facts,
answer some of your questions and concerns
and really breaks this down.
Now, if you want the basics on this new policy,
I'm going to go ahead and link my video in the info card
in description down below where I've already covered that.
In addition to running ads on non-monetized videos,
YouTube is also going to be counting YouTube ads
since payments as royalties.
And so there are some tax issues with that
and we're going to briefly touch on that
but I do wanna give it its own dedicated video.
The first thing people are concerned about
is demonetized videos.
Will YouTube be running ads on videos
that they would normally demonetize
and will YouTube be profiting off those videos
while creators do not?
And the answer is no.
To run ads on videos, YouTube is still holding up
their brand safe guidelines.
So even if you're not in the YouTube Partner Program,
before ads would run on your videos,
they would still have to meet brand friendly guidelines
which means YouTube is not gonna be monetizing videos
that are of sensitive topics and so on and so forth.
I also think it's important to point out
that YouTube will not be monetizing 100% of videos
on the platform which is an argument people are using
to say that YouTube should just let everybody back
into the partner program.
As it stands, if you're a YouTube partner
and a lot of people who are smaller YouTube channels
do not know this,
is that 100% of your videos are not monetized
and are not getting ads on every single view.
So in addition to the potential for videos themselves
to be demonetized, 100% of the views on a partnered video
are not running ads on them.
On average it's between 30 and 60% of views
if you're a partner that are monetized.
There's just not always ads to play on a video.
Some people are viewing in countries
where there may not be advertisements
to match their language,
there are a number of things that actually affect
your YouTube monetization.
And I've covered that here on the channel
in many, many videos.
So 100% of videos are never monetized
even if you qualify for ad sense
and are in the YouTube partner program.
It's just never been that way.
Another question is whether or not
there will be less money going to YouTube partners
as a result of this
because there are more ads being distributed
will this affect people's earnings on YouTube.
And in my opinion here, the answer will be no
because when demonetization for smaller channels happened
with the change in the YouTube policies
for 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time,
there wasn't a significant increase
in the revenue going to partner channels.
So the reverse would also apply here.
If people didn't make more money
with there being less people in the program,
they're not gonna necessarily make less money just because
there are more videos that are monetized now.
Additionally, smaller channels would typically be
in the lowest tier of ad revenue
and as it stands, that's not really a lot of money
to begin with.
My channel, for example, has on average a $20 CPM rate
which is considered one of the highest earning potentials
that there is within the YouTube platform.
But that means that my revenue per thousand views
is about roughly $10 and when you translate all of that,
it means that I make exactly one penny
per every view on YouTube.
Now, since most channels average CPM of about $2,
then that means that most normal YouTube channels
are about a 10th of a penny per view.
This is not earth shattering money
when it all boils down to it.
So this is part of why people are misunderstanding
what's happening.
And I know that money is money
but when we put this in perspective,
it's not a massive loss for creators
and it's not massive gain for YouTube.
If you make a video as a smaller channel
that's not a YouTube Partner Program
and it ends up going viral and getting massive amounts
of views that would put you into being qualified
for the YouTube Partner Program
in terms of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time,
will YouTube retroactively pay you for the views
on those videos since it put you through the qualification?
And the answer to that is unfortunately, no.
And this can feel like small creators
are getting screwed over
but YouTube has never retroactively paid out revenue
after the fact on something.
So this is pretty normal,
this is what we've seen in the past.
Even if we don't like it.
This is not a new part of the policy.
Let's talk about long form content.
Example, my podcast channel.
I do a podcast and I have guests on my channel,
I do live streams.
This is long form content that if interrupted
with an ad break in the wrong place
would completely disrupt the viewer experience
and could negatively impact the performance
of that video in terms of retention rates.
So the concern for a lot of channels
that do things like a SMR,
meditation or any number of things
is that mid-roll ads will end up interrupting
their videos and they don't have control over that
or the ability to turn it off.
It's an issue that I brought up in my previous video
about the same thing, about this new monetization policy
and this is part of what I don't agree with.
But my belief is that they won't be aggressive
with mid-roll ads or they may not even introduce them.
The main reason that I believe this is because
the real state for those ads would be more valuable
with channels that are already partnered.
YouTube would stand to make more money with partner channels
in terms of these ads rather than on a smartphone channel
even if the content is performing well or it's lengthy,
I don't see them doing that as easily there,
just because there's predictable profit
to be made somewhere else.
The other reason is just the lack of ad inventory
as it is partner channel, do not get 100% view monetization
as it is.
So I don't necessarily think
that this will be a large problem.
I do think that this will have some isolated incidents,
I'm not a fan of it as my own channel
will probably be affected in terms of the podcast.
And so this is a valid concern
and I wish that you had control
and the option to opt out of this entirely.
And I think that that would be a better solution
but it's not the one that we have
and it probably would solve most people's concern
and anxiety about this if they just had the ability
to opt out.
Now, since I touched on the fact that
there's just more predictable profit for YouTube elsewhere,
I wanted to bring up a statistic.
There was a case study, I believe it was a data from
in Germany that concluded that 90% of traffic on YouTube
goes to the top 3% of channels.
And therefore I believe that the majority
of ad inventory, the majority of ad revenue
also flows that way and the majority of add potential
would also flow that way.
And so that's why I don't necessarily believe
that this will create a massive issue
for smaller YouTube channels.
It just doesn't necessarily make sense
and there is a limited number of ads to go around
and so I don't think
that you're gonna see yourself getting hit
with ad after ad after ad on these videos
that don't have a predictable path, the larger view counts.
And it's just not enough traffic spread
between the remainder of the 97% of channels
that will take up 10% of the traffic,
the map just doesn't work out.
Now with regard to these monetization policy changes
for creators who are concerned,
my best advice to you would be to put all of your effort
and all of your energy into reaching
the requirements for YouTube ad monetization
and applying to be part of the YouTube partner program.
And the reason for this is it will give you control
over the viewer experience if you want to turn off ads
after qualifying for them,
that is then your prerogative.
If you want to be able to control the placement
of your ads and the interruptions
that they bring for your audience and even filter
which ads aren't allowed to be shared to your audience,
then that's you get to do when you meet those requirements.
I also wanna continue to encourage creators
to look beyond YouTube monetization, relying on it
or also being emotionally controlled
by it in any meaningful way.
Like I said, in the best case scenario,
you're looking at one penny per view
if you are doing a fantastic job when it comes
to monetization and at average
and was more likely is you'll be doing
a 10th of a penny per view
when it comes to modernization.
With that in mind, I know that it's easy to look at
a lot of these YouTube millionaires
that are crushing it and getting tens of millions
of views a month and think that that's gonna be you
but the math there also doesn't add up.
There are more people in the United States
who became millionaires last year
then have ever gotten to a hundred thousand subscribers
in the entire history of YouTube.
I want to paint a clear picture for you,
how difficult it is to become a successful creator
but also that even if you do that ad sense
is not the most reliable income source or revenue stream.
So I encourage you to diversify and try to make money online
in as many ways as possible if you want to be able
to support your creativity.
Another note that I wanna bring up regarding
the YouTube partner program.
A lot of people have brought up the concern
that if YouTube is going to be able
to monetize non-partnered content,
why would they ever let anyone
into the YouTube partner program
and something you may not know if you're not part
of the YouTube partner program
is that there are four other types of monetization
that is offered besides ad sense available to YouTube
to partners directly through YouTube as a platform.
And there are also two more that are in development
and are being beta testing right now.
So there are so many more ways for YouTube
to earn through their partners outside the ads
and outside of what the advertisers do,
that it's actually in their best interest
for more channels to be partnered instead of less.
YouTube actually doesn't benefit that much
even with the monetization of non partner channels
based on the fact that those channels typically
will not earn significant add rates
and the fact that YouTube would have four plus more ways
to make money if you are a partner.
So YouTube isn't rubbing his hands plotting against you,
it's setting requirements, not unlike any other career
or job profession, there are requirements
and qualifiers to be a part of this.
And so it's really not that different
than I think many other traditional careers
in terms of there being a standard or a barrier to entry.
Just because the platform is accessible,
that doesn't mean that succeeding on the platform is.
Anyone can pick up a ball and play a sport
but not everybody goes to the NBA.
It may feel to you that YouTube is screwing
over smaller channels, smaller creators.
And I understand that feeling, I understand that emotion
but I don't necessarily believe at least
from my point of view that there are enough facts
to support that.
I think that this is just business as usual
and if I look at the other platforms,
TikTok requires 10,000 followers to monetize.
I think it's actually harder to get monetized on TikTok
even though TikTok offers virality,
virality is not guaranteed even if it feels more accessible.
And I also know that Facebook offers monetization
but it also requires 10,000 followers
in order to achieve that.
Instagram doesn't offer monetization at all
and still profits from the ads run against creators.
I believe the same is true for Snapchat, Deviant Art.
There are many platforms and websites, Pinterest
so on and so forth that run ads against the content
from its users without even offering them
a pathway to monetization.
And so while it may sound a little tone deaf,
I think that we have to be grateful
for having the opportunity.
I think that being able to see that there is something
that is available to us
that has never been available to other people
and the fact that there are many content creators
whose countries don't allow them to monetize
and whose countries are actually creating new regulations
that even limit or restrict them
from doing certain things like affiliate marketing
and brand deals, I think that it's best
to look at the opportunities you have
and feel out how you can make the most of them really look
for how to win instead of how to lose.
These kinds of changes won't stop the next Mr. Beast.
These kinds of changes won't stop the next Kelly Stamps.
And there's no reason that these kinds of changes
have to stop you from being able to achieve your goals
and being successful on this platform
through your own hard work.
And even if YouTube may benefit from some of your content
in the short term,
you are the one who has the most to gain in the long-term
from your own effort and from the support of an audience
that you show up for.
And so if you're considering not starting a YouTube channel.
If you're considering priming or deleting your videos,
I would implore you on behalf of the viewer
to enjoy your content to think twice
about that and to find a way to put them first
because that is really the only way
to truly be successful on YouTube is that your viewers,
your audience has to come first,
your craft and your skills have to come second
and the other considerations monetization,
all of that is important but it cannot be
the number one driver behind everything
because ultimately nothing happens
without them viewers being invested in the content
and the content being made.
Question of the day, are you going to try
to meet the YouTube monetization requirements?
Let me know in the comment section.
I also have a great video coming out
that's gonna help you do that.
In the meantime, watch this one
in the info card in the description.
Thanks so much for watching.
Go out there and create something awesome today.
Take care.