New YouTube Partner Program (YPP) rules announced on 16 January 2018 will penalize the smaller and new video creators (https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72857?hl=en). These new rules state that a Youtube channel needs to have 4000 hours of viewing time and 1000 subscribers to be invited to join the YPP. Any channel below that will no be able to be part of the YPP.
Random Robi’s Youtube Channel. His most popular video – a flight review.
Big deal? Yes – as the YPP is the way video creators get paid for their efforts. Youtubers cannot put adds on their videos unless they are part of the YPP. Youtube are at pains to point out that the smaller channels are not about to lose their livelihood and be forced to live on the streets as a result of this decision: “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.” (https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2018/01/additional-changes-to-youtube-partner.html) So, yes, the vast majority of Youtube videos are largely a labour of love, not income. Why should Youtube keep paying administration costs on accounts that are so small. After all, they are already generously providing unlimited free storage and a worldwide audience – fame is just a few enticing frames away!
My son has had a Youtube account since about August 2016. His most popular video – a flight review of his trip from Singapore to Helsinki on Finnair – has about 12000 views and is still climbing. Several other videos have over 2000 views. The analytics that Youtube provides are great. Thanks to them Robi knows that over 90% of his views are a result of being selected by viewers from the recommendations next to the video the viewer had watched previously. This sharpened Robi’s marketing mind and he spends many hours ensuring the thumbnails for his videos are the most attractive that he can make them.
Click below to see Robi’s channel – Random Robi – and please subscribe while you are there. Strike a blow for the small battler!
Which is why the new rules feel like an enormous kick in the guts. All his videos will presumably be removed from the recommendations as they will no longer carry adverts. His views could easily plummet by 90%.
Robi managed to get into the YPP under the old rules. This meant that the Youtube algorithms would place Robi’s niche videos next to viewers who would be tempted to click on them. Great for Robi’s viewer numbers and a revenue boost for Youtube (80% of the revenue that Robi’s ads earn go to Youtube. Robi has earned only $40 over the time he has had a Youtube channel). Under the new rules Robi will be removed from the YPP and Youtube will have no financial incentive to promote his videos to the recommended list alongside. Google will have no incentive either to even acknowledge his videos when people search for flight reviews. He just wants an even playing field to be acknowledged for his effort and creativity.
Part of the push for new rules is because one of the biggest Youtube creators uploaded a video that was declared to have violated rules of decency by showing offensive material. Youtube had manually promoted it as it trended, so its own staff obviously hadn’t found it offensive. Nope – tens of thousands of viewers couldn’t be wrong, could they? However, the public backlash swelled so much that they had to remove it. Logan Paul’s Youtube channel is still up (I’ve just checked), with Youtube profiting from his notoriety.
Ironic that Logan Paul, who has uploaded offensive material, still gets to keep his channel (and his share of the revenue from the offensive material?) but small, inoffensive Youtubers like Robi, who have already proven their worth, are about to be denied the breath of algorithmic publicity.
