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YouTube raises bar for channels to attain partner status

YouTube raises bar for channels to attain partner status

YouTube is implementing new requirements for channels wanting to apply for ‘partner’ status on the service, which is required before they can make money from advertisements.

The existing rules merely stated that channels needed more than 10,000 lifetime views to apply for YouTube’s Partner Program, but the company says it needed to get stricter to tackle “spammers, impersonators, and other bad actors”.

Raising the bar

The new rules? “Starting today we’re changing the eligibility requirement for monetisation to 4,000 hours of watchtime within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers,” explained chief product officer Neal Mohan and chief business officer Robert Kyncl in a blog post addressing the YouTube community.

“We’ve arrived at these new thresholds after thorough analysis and conversations with creators like you. They will allow us to significantly improve our ability to identify creators who contribute positively to the community and help drive more ad revenue to them (and away from bad actors).”

“These higher standards will also help us prevent potentially inappropriate videos from monetising which can hurt revenue for everyone.”

The new rules do not just cover new channels applying for partner status, however, On 20 February, YouTube will also apply them to existing channels.

“On that date, channels with fewer than 1,000 subs or 4,000 watch hours will no longer be able to earn money on YouTube. When they reach 1,000 subs and 4,000 watch hours they will be automatically re-evaluated under strict criteria to ensure they comply with our policies.”

According to Mohan and Kyncl, 99% of the channels affected made less than $100 from advertising in the last year, while 90% earned less than $2.50 in the last month.

Their blog post also referred – albeit not by name – to the recent suicide-forest vlogging controversy involving one of YouTube’s biggest stars, Logan Paul.

“While this change will tackle the potential abuse of a large but disparate group of smaller channels, we also know that the bad action of a single, large channel can also have an impact on the community and how advertisers view YouTube,” they wrote.

“We'll be working to schedule conversations with our creators in the months ahead so we can hear your thoughts and ideas and what more we can do to tackle that challenge.”


Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)