YouTube Is Expanding Monetization to More Types of Content

The video-sharing giant YouTube is expanding the monetization opportunities for content creators by enabling ads to run on more types of content.

With this, creators can now make money through content that was not regarded as suitable for advertisers earlier.

Owing to the recent changes made to YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines, which have now become less restrictive, this has been possible.

Let’s take a look at this significant update to the YouTube Partner Program in detail below.

Adjustments to YouTube’s Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines

YouTube will now allow creators to fully monetize more types of content instead of partially monetizing them.

Creators who already are part of the YouTube Partner Program can instantly find out if a particular video is eligible for full or partial monetization by checking the color-coded icons in YouTube Studio.

• Green icon: Shows the video’s eligibility to earn full revenue
• Yellow icon: Shows the video’s eligibility to show limited or no ads at all
• Red icon: Shows the video’s ineligibility for monetization
• Grey icon: Shows the creator has manually turned off monetization

In a recent video uploaded by the Creator Insider channel, a YouTube executive said the team knows that when a creator sees a yellow icon on their video, it might feel like the platform is not being supportive enough. He stated that the advertiser-friendly guidelines are more restrictive in certain areas than others because the advertisers want to have the option to opt-in on some content and have no tolerance for running ads in others.

Examples of such areas include content that features graphic dead bodies or really explicit discussions on sexual abuse. Adding to his statement, the executive said it is a balancing act for them as they have to ensure creators get the best possible monetization opportunities for their content while making sure the advertisers still happily pay for ad space.

In the video, the representative said that the company has met with advertisers to make a case for a few rational policy updates, meaning YouTube creators will now get more opportunities to monetize their videos fully. Before this update, some of this content would have got the yellow icon.

With these new changes, the platform is shifting certain content areas out of the scope of the yellow icon and moving it in the scope of the green icon. These changes will be applicable to these types of content:

Educational, Documentary, or News Content –

The platform will expand monetization on educational, documentary, or news content that might contain recreational drugs or drug-related content, violent interactions with law enforcement, and sensitive events.

Controversial Issues –

YouTube will expand monetization on controversial issues where the content is non-graphic and includes objective discussions of controversial issues.

Adult Humor Content –

The platform will expand monetization for adult themes delivered via the context of humor. For example, dating jokes.

Moderate Profanity –

YouTube will permit the creators to fully monetize content where moderate profanity is used within the initial 30 seconds of the video.

Wrapping It Up

The popular video-sharing platform YouTube will now allow ads to run on more content types, thus expanding the monetization opportunities for content creators. This change has been possible due to the recent adjustments made to YouTube’s advertiser-friendly guidelines, which are now less restrictive. According to the company, these new changes will apply to educational, documentary, or news content, controversial issues, adult humor content, and videos containing moderate profanity in the first 30 seconds. As per the latest announcement, these changes will be effective as of April 2021.