YouTube’s announcement of their new 10,000 lifetime views required to monetize rule has got a lot of people in a tizz. While some people have simply shrugged and gone (usually those with well over 10k views) smaller creators that are struggling to grow their channels are now worried about the future of those channels.
The Bigger Issue With The YouTube 10k Rule Overview
YouTube claims that the reason for the change is due to the amount of channels popping up that are stealing other creators content and re-uploading it to their own channels or uploading copyrighted content. Having the 10k rule helps prevent that, and gives YouTube enough time to check the validity of channels before allowing them to monetize.
When I first heard about it I assumed that once you hit 10k youtube starts showing ads on your video. Like, the very second you got 10k. However it looks like that isn’t the case. It’s not an automatic system where the number ticks over to 10,001 and ads start appearing. There is another side to the rule.
YouTube are introducing a review process to ensure that all channels with under 10k meet with YouTubes advertiser friendly content guidelines. They want to ensure that only the channels making advertiser friendly content can get monetization from here on out. New channels need to follow the community guidelines and the YouTube advertiser policy which in turn tells you that you need to follow google advertiser policies as well. The YouTube advertiser policy also includes a disclaimer letting you know that the rules they list for what could make content non-advertiser friendly isn’t a comprehensive list, there could be other reasons why your review application gets rejected.
Essentially, youtube is saying it is no longer possible to begin a career making content that isn’t advertiser friendly, you won’t be able to monetise it. We’re now looking at the end of some of the most loved types of content on youtube. If people like Jenna Marbles or PewDiePie decide to call it a day then that’s it, no one that started after the 10k rule was implemented is going to be able to pick up the mantle and make content like that because it’s unlikely a channel like that would make it through youtubes review process.
Some of the most popular content on youtube isn’t advertiser friendly so new creators are going to be stuck trying to compete with channels that have free reign to do and say what they want, while they’re trapped sticking to a set of fuzzy rules about what is and isn’t deemed acceptable.
Even though the Restricted Mode issue is supposedly unrelated, using restricted mode is probably a good way to determine what existing content is being deemed advertiser unfriendly. That way you’ll be able to get an idea of which kind of content is off limits for new channels.
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The Bigger Issue With The YouTube 10k Rule Conclusion
While everyones focusing on the 10k rule and not being to monetise straight away (which in all honesty isn’t such a big deal – you aren’t going to earn a fortune from 10k views), we should be focusing on the fact that we all need to stick to making advertiser friendly content. This change has the potential to completely change the type of content that gets put up on youtube.
What do you guys think? Are we about to see the end of genuine creators, the regular folks making videos? Is youtube going to become this watered down version of the content that we all once loved?
