Over the past year, YouTube has been struggling to maintain an amicable relationship with its content creators — and it’s working hard to change that.
In a bid to keep advertisers and creators happy, the platform has announced that new YouTubers will need a total of 10 000 views across all their videos before applying as a YouTube partner. This change is meant to serve as protection for advertisers who have recently pulled their ads after it was reported that antisemitic and racist videos were being endorsed by major brands.
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“This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel,” its announcement reads. “It also allows us to confirm if a channel is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies.”
The company has not mentioned how long the vetting process will take.
YouTube’s latest move aims to protect advertisers who have been affected by reported antisemitic and racist videos
The update will not affect any revenue earned from channels with less than 10 000 views before yesterday, but there are those in niche categories worried about their income.
@DankyDoodleJosh @theFazzs @dxhzs @verge channels that are small and have good content will have a super hard time to grow
— PixelsInSpace (@OliSpacePixels) April 6, 2017
But others see it as an opportunity for YouTube to purge all those whose only quest is to make money.
Less ads on youtube means that it purges all the people who came to the platform just to make money.
— Robby (@RobbyEpicsauce) April 6, 2017
Everyones worried about losing monitisation on YouTube but as small creators we should be in it for the love of creating not money
—
Rational Nick (@RationalGamers) April 7, 2017
This isn’t the first time the company have had to appease their creators in the past year.
In 2016, a number of YouTubers caused an uproar about the “changing algorithm” — the result of miscommunication on YouTube’s side that led creators to believe they could no longer make a living off their videos.
Last month it was found that the platform’s new kid-friendly Restricted Mode was blocking videos featuring LGBT+ content — and thus demonetising those videos.
This change in YouTube partnership could be seen as the start of rebuilding the relationship between platform and creator.
“For millions of creators, making videos on YouTube isn’t just a creative outlet, it’s a source of income,” YouTube writes. “We want creators of all sizes to find opportunity on YouTube, and we believe this new application process will help ensure creator revenue continues to grow and end up in the right hands.”
Featured image: Esther Vargas via Flickr (CC 2.0, resized)
