YouTube put out a new announcement on their YouTube creators blog that informed users of changes coming to the platform. Among those changes was a new eligibility requirement in order to monetize your videos, now you will need at least 1,000 subs.
The video streaming platform acknowledged that 2017 was a rough year for many YouTubers as the platform grows and more and more creators join. The blog post went on to say, "In 2018, a major focus for everyone at YouTube is protecting our creator ecosystem and ensuring your revenue is more stable."
"Starting today we’re changing the eligibility requirement for monetization to 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. We’ve arrived at these new thresholds after thorough analysis and conversations with creators like you."
YouTube went on to cite the need for higher standards to prevent inappropriate videos as some of the driving force behind the change. "These higher standards will also help us prevent potentially inappropriate videos from monetizing which can hurt revenue for everyone," YouTube said.
YouTube is becoming extremely powerful and these new ways to control which channels get a voice and which ones don't is disturbing. Videos with no inappropriate content are often flagged by people who don't agree with the message and force the video into a review process.
The change won't take effect for existing channels for 30 days. "On February 20th, 2018, we’ll also implement this threshold across existing channels on the platform, to allow for a 30 day grace period," YouTube said.
"Though these changes will affect a significant number of channels, 99% of those affected were making less than $100 per year in the last year, with 90% earning less than $2.50 in the last month.
Any of the channels who no longer meet this threshold will be paid what they’ve already earned based on our AdSense policies. After thoughtful consideration, we believe these are necessary compromises to protect our community," YouTube said.
It is likely things will only get worse for small creators and those looking to join the platform will have larger hurdles to face to gain exposure.
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Source: https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2018/01/additional-changes-to-youtube-partner.html?m=1
