Here are my thoughts on the latest hurdle placed on small Youtube channels. In brief, Youtube has placed a new barrier to entry on the Youtube Partner Program in that a channel needs 100 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time to participate in the program. This means no ad revenue for small channels. Youtube stated “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.
Of course, size alone is not enough to determine whether a channel is suitable for monetization, so we’ll continue to use signals like community strikes, spam, and other abuse flags to ensure we’re protecting our creator community from bad actors. As we continue to protect our platform from abuse, we want to remind all of you to follow YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Monetization Basics & Policies, Terms of Service, and Google AdSense program policies, as violating any of these may lead to removal from the YouTube Partner Program.
While this change will tackle the potential abuse of a large but disparate group of smaller channels, we also know that the bad action of a single, large channel can also have an impact on the community and how advertisers view YouTube. We’ll be working to schedule conversations with our creators in the months ahead so we can hear your thoughts and ideas and what more we can do to tackle that challenge.”
In my opinion, this will not filter out the spam and click-bait channels but hurt the legitimate channels that are following the community guidelines and producing interesting original content.
I do not want my channel to become the same as other channels that instead of focusing on the content, just spam their audience for merch sales and affiliate links. This is not why I started my channel and will never abuse my viewers like that.
**** Disclaimer ****
I know my channel may never hit the 1000 subscriber mark. I understand that my content may be viewed as crap from viewers. I know I have a lot to learn about presentation and video production.
That being said, I use the platform to grow and learn and have success in producing interesting content for my viewers. The ad revenue is a small part as it supports my efforts and allows me to invest in server and hardware for my channel and projects.
The thing that hurts the most is that on my creator page it shows that I am a verified partner. There is an amount of pride that I get knowing I am part of a community. This is now gone until I reach the new hurdle set by Youtube. What happens when I reach the new standards? Will Youtube raise the sub count to 2000 or more? Will Youtube keep trying to become like Netflix and only want actual TV-style programs and not the content that made the platform what it is today?
What are your thoughts as a viewer and or creator?
Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the subject. Please feel free to voice your opinion. Remember, do not attack me but feel free to attack my argument.
Thank You for your time!