Many YouTube creators frustrated by changes in policies, practices
A shooting at YouTube’s headquarters in California has sparked questions about recent changes the video service made to how its creators get paid.
Authorities have identified the suspect as Nasim Aghdam, 39, accused of shooting three people before apparently taking her own life.
Police say Aghdam’s apparent motive for the shooting was frustration with the policies and practices of YouTube. Social media posts made by Aghdam, along with comments made by her father, suggest the shooter was “angry” because YouTube had stopped paying her for videos.
Although YouTube does not directly pay its content creators, users can make money through ads that run on their video or subscriptions collected by YouTube Red premium service. However, recent policy changes have rankled many creators.
Here’s a breakdown of how YouTube creators can make money:
❚ What is monetization? For YouTube, it’s a way for creators to make money off their videos. YouTube hosts a Partners Program, where creators earn money from ads appearing on their videos or Red subscriptions. The ads run through AdSense, Google’s platform for serving ads to websites including YouTube.
For its bigger names, making a living through YouTube can prove lucrative. According to Forbes, the highest-paid YouTube star, Daniel Middleton, raked in $16.5 million in income last year thanks to his channel DanTDM.
❚ What are the changes users seem upset about? Last April, YouTube updated its Partners Program to no longer serve ads on videos until a channel reaches 10,000 lifetime views. It also revealed work on a review process for new members of the program.
The change was made in response to tactics such as channels taking original videos and uploading them again to rake in ad money.
“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,” Ariel Bardin, YouTube’s vice president of product management, said in a blog post last April.
In January, YouTube boosted those thresholds to 4,000 hours of watch time over the last 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. As of Feb. 20, any channels below these requirements could no longer make money through ads.
❚ Why did YouTube make these changes? Major advertisers including AT&T and Verizon started pulling their business from YouTube in March 2017 after discovering their ads were appearing on offensive or extremist videos. YouTube parent company Google said it would start an “extensive review” of its ad policies. Last August, YouTube said it was working more quickly to pull terrorist content from its site.
❚ What did this mean for YouTube creators? If you were an established YouTube star with millions of followers, the policy didn’t change things. But smaller channels on the edges of YouTube’s thresholds were shut out.
Although YouTube acknowledged in January a significant number of channels would be affected by the change, it said 99% of affected channels were making less than $100 a year in the last year.
Those changes arrived as it weathered controversy surrounding one of its biggest names, Logan Paul. In February, the vlogger saw ads on his channel suspended temporarily after uploading a video of him shocking a rat with a taser.