Topic: URGENT: YouTube policy changes

[kat]

Thank you for your continued support of KatsBits.
Unfortunately as of today (20Feb) both KatsBits YouTube Channels are demonetised.

URGENT!

To ensure the KatsBits YouTube channels (KatsBits and the archived KatsBits Tutorials) are kept free and you are not constantly asked for money or are constantly hawked products to buy like other sites, both rely on Ad Revenue generated from video uploads.

Due to a policy update at YouTube, in less than 30 days, on February 20th, this all changes. To what is not exactly clear at present.

Do note that were both KatsBits channels to reach the minimums (4,000 view hrs [check] (update: that's HOURS thus YouTube Creators need at least 240,000 MINUTES view time) and 1000 subscribers [blank]), Partners are to be approved by YouTube rather than auto-granted Partner status.

For context, to reach the 4,000 hr goal;
- 1 person would need to watch YouTube 24 hrs a day for c.170 days.
- 10 people would need to watch 24 hrs for c.17 days.
- 100 people 24 hrs for c.2 days.
- 1000 people for 4 hrs.
- 10,000 people for c.20 mins.
- 100,000 people for c.2 mins

On one hand you could be asked to subscribe and get the numbers up, but on the other doing so is no guaranty at all that Partner status would be reinstated and/or then perhaps removed with the next round of quota fulfillment.

Again, the implications of this uncertainty are not particularly encouraging for the channels.

In the meantime subscribe to both KatsBits and KatsBits Tutorials if you haven't already.

kat.



The YouTube Partner message/text in full...

KatsBits,

Today we are announcing changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). While our goal remains to keep the YPP open to as many channels as possible, we recognise that we need more safeguards in place to protect creator revenue across the YouTube ecosystem. 

LEARN MORE

What's Changing
 
Under the new eligibility requirements announced today, your YouTube channel, KatsBits, is no longer eligible for monetisation because it does not meet the new threshold of 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. As a result, your channel will lose access to all monetisation tools and features associated with the YouTube Partner Program on 20 February 2018 unless you surpass this threshold in the next 30 days. Accordingly, this email serves as 30 days notice that your YouTube Partner Program terms are terminated.

One of YouTube’s core values is to provide anyone the opportunity to earn money from a thriving channel. Creators who haven’t yet reached this new threshold can continue to benefit from our Creator Academy, our Help Centre and all the resources on the Creator Site to grow their channels. Once your channel reaches the new threshold, it will be reviewed to make sure it adheres to our policies and guidelines, and if so, monetisation will be re-enabled. 

LEARN MORE
 
The YouTube Team [emphasis added]

[kat]

As an FYI, and perhaps address some social media speculation, in YouTubes own words from the Creator Blog "Additional Changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) to Better Protect Creators", this is a direct response to political and social issues YouTube suffered in "2017";

As Susan mentioned in December, we’re making changes to address the issues that affected our community in 2017 so we can prevent bad actors from harming the inspiring and original creators around the world who make their living on YouTube. A big part of that effort will be strengthening our requirements for monetization so spammers, impersonators, and other bad actors can’t hurt our ecosystem or take advantage of you, while continuing to reward those who make our platform great. [emphasis added]

Unfortunately the policy rules looks like they may be rife for future misuse;

Of course, size alone is not enough to determine whether a channel is suitable for monetization, so we’ll continue to use signals like community strikes, spam, and other abuse flags to ensure we’re protecting our creator community from bad actors....

[kat]

Do NOT post 'like-for-like' ("Sub4Sub") subscription requests all over the Internet/social media, its a policy violation ("Gaining subscribers through artificial means").

Offering to subscribe to another creator's channel solely in exchange for them subscribing to your channel, also known as 'Sub4Sub', is not allowed. Creators who offer such exchanges risk losing subscriber numbers, receiving a Terms of Use strike or even having their channel terminated. [emphasis added]

[JimmieRose]

well... that does not look good in some cases and kind of a bit confusing at first read. So, now what might be your course of action?

[kat]

Not sure to be perfectly frank.

There's a lot of talk on social media by people others to up their game but most of this is coming from low-effort game and Real-Life ('RL') live streamers, not those who have to spent a good deal of time scripting, filming and editing content beforehand. This move really hits the latter group more than the former with no clear immediate solutions.

[Polda18]

You've just received another subscriber for both channels. Your tutorials are good and pretty well explained, so why not?

[kat]

 

(although it should be stressed to subscribed because you want to be notified of new content rather than as a response to the current issue )

[kat]

YouTube has made available an 'FAQ' to address some of the more common issues raised. Of note was the following entry;

What stops you from making this change again? You've already changed the requirements twice!
There are no plans to change this again, unfortunately we still saw bad content/channels slip through with the 10k threshold but believe this new update strengthens the requirements and give us enough on these bad actors trying to get through. [underline emphasis added]

What the statement suggests, or perhaps confirms, is speculation the move isn't about stopping "bad actors" per se but YouTube's having (regaining?) broader control over content and who gets to participate in 'conversations' on the platform - although YouTube don't provide hard data to back up the assertions they make, and upon which these new policies are based, being a "bad actor" is not a prerequisite for "inappropriate" or ToS violating content (notwithstanding the subjective interpretation of that qualifier); the current reporting system already caters to this, surely dealing with individual cases as they crop up in an open ecosystem is more effective/efficient, than blanket blockades and the policing everything to maintain one that's closed.

[kat]

Thanks to those supporting the channel/s, unfortunately as of today 20th Feb, both KatsBits channels are now demonetised.