Psssst….YouTube Might Be Monetizing Your Videos Without You

As early as November of 2020 for the United States and then rolled out globally in June 2021, YouTube updated its terms of service to outline what it deemed “YouTube’s right to monetize.” This right is summarized as: YouTube has the right to monetize all content on the platform and ads may appear on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program. Not too crazy of an idea. If YouTube wants to play an advertisement before my mom’s archive of home videos she gets to store on YouTube for free without worry of physical hard drive deterioration that seems like a fair enough trade. Although I’m not sure what advertiser wants to be associated with 18-month-old me running down the driveway in my tidy-whities while my sister learns to ride a bike, but then again that’s their ad-targeting problem not mine.

BUT what if you are a brand channel? Or an entertainment channel for a new show that is launching? Now if you do not join or are not yet qualified for the YouTube Partner Program, YouTube could be monetizing your videos and in a worst-case scenario could even be showing competitor advertisements before your content. The only way to prevent ads from showing on your content is to qualify for and join the YPP then disable monetization on your channel. It is incredibly important for companies to understand this new reality and ensure they protect their channel as best they can.

If you qualify for the YPP and have yet to join, do it now and protect your channel by excluding competitor verticals from your advertiser set. If you have yet to achieve the 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of organic watch time in a 12-month period, we can help you get there faster and ensure your channel is protected. Although paid media watch time does not count towards YPP qualification, an optimized paid media strategy focused on follow-on viewership can super charge your organic viewership and watch time numbers to get you there faster.

This Thought Leadership piece was written by James Norell, SVP, Strategy and Business Operations at Little Dot Studios.