Do unlisted videos count as watch time
According to some of the most recent research, YouTubers can make an average of anywhere between $0.01 to $0.03 per view on their videos. While that might not sound like a lot at first, keep in mind that some YouTube videos can easily get hundreds, if not thousands, of watch hours if the content is targeted and well-made. Show However, if you’re just now posting your own videos to YouTube for the first time, you might notice that you’re not automatically set up for monetization. And in fact, even once you’ve looked into turning on ads and everything else, you might notice that you’re still not able to monetize your videos. So just what is the answer for how much watch time required for YouTube monetization? This is because YouTube requires users to reach a certain threshold for watch time before you can monetize your content. But what is that magical YouTube channel watch time number? And how can you create videos to help you reach it plus maximize your revenue potentials? The answer: 4,000 watch hours on your YouTube channelAs of February 2018, YouTube dictates that YouTube channels must have more than 1,000 subscribers and over 4,000 watch hours annually before you can earn money on your YouTube channel. However, it’s important to note that even from there, YouTube will still evaluate your channel for other strict criteria to make sure it is complying with all of their policies and best practices outside of watch time and watch hours minimums. So while this 4,000 hours of watch time threshold is a good goal for any new content creator on the platform, the real goal of what you’re actually trying to do is simply to create engaging and watchable content so that you can work your way into the YouTube Partner Program. (You know, rather than basing your entire video strategy around trying to get one video to become that one viral video everyone talks about for the next few weeks...) Understanding the YouTube Partner ProgramThe all-important YouTube Partner Program (or YPP) is at the crux of how YouTube works to empower its YouTube users. This program offers plenty of support and features for its creators that unlock the myriad of lucrative aspects of creating videos with YouTube ads for your audience. However, as mentioned above, there are certain criteria which your channel must meet before you will be invited into the YouTube Partner Program. Here are the minimum eligibility requirements according to YouTube: With these criteria in place as goals, the name of the game then becomes growing your audience (and subscriber count) while also maximizing your watch time and top performing videos. How to Increase YouTube Watch TimeSo, how do you actually achieve these goals? Let’s go over some tips to help you increase your YouTube watch time for your channel. (Keep in mind that YouTube is only counting public videos and not private videos or unlisted videos, so make sure your watch time and watch hours are focused on your public content.)
Those are just some basic tips for increasing your YouTube watch time, though. The real goal is to simply make enough videos that provide valuable content and be the truest that you can to your channel’s brand. Be real and be authentic with your audience, but also be sure to pull out all the stops that you can to put your channel in the best light possible. How long does it take YouTube to review a channel for monetization?This is a great question which YouTube does not appear to directly address in the YouTube Partner Program guidelines or FAQs. However, based on reports from other YouTubers, the process can take anywhere from a few days to a month. If you’re waiting anywhere longer than 30 days for YouTube to review your channel for monetization, something might have gone wrong and you should contact customer support. How to turn off monetization on YouTubeIf for whatever reason you’re tired of having ads on your YouTube channel, you can always turn off monetization whenever you want. The process is actually pretty simple, and you can follow these steps as outlined from YouTube below:
Hopefully these answers, guides, tips, and tricks have given you a solid understanding of how watch time, watch hours, and video ads work, and how monetization could be unlocked for your budding YouTube channel. Further readingHowever, there’s always more to learn in the world of YouTube video creation, so if you’d like to check out some other interesting resources check out these additional articles from the Soundstripe blog:
YouTube is switching older Unlisted videos to private, while it's also adding testing a new process to better highlight policy violations to users within their video clips. First off, on Unlisted video uploads - back in 2017, YouTube updated its process around Unlisted videos to make them harder for people to discover, if they didn't have a direct link. Unlisted videos on YouTube can be viewed and shared by anyone with the link to that particular clip, but they don't show up in search results or other tabs. The 2017 update sought to clarify a loophole in YouTube's system which had seen some unlisted content appearing in search, in order to ensure they remained privately shareable, as intended by the setting. In order to fully close any gaps here, YouTube has now announced that any Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 will be made Private, starting on July 23, 2021. As per YouTube: "We are also giving creators the option to opt out of this security update and keep their videos in their current state if they prefer. If you have a video that is impacted by this change, we’ll notify you directly." So, if you have an Unlisted video on YouTube, you'll soon have to either op-out of this change, make your Unlisted video public, or re-upload your Unlisted video under the new process. Or you could do nothing: "We’ll set any Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 to “Private” starting July 23. As a reminder, Private videos can only be seen by you and the people you choose. Once these videos are made Private starting July 23, any link previously used to embed or share them as Unlisted will no longer work." So, really, this likely primarily relates to videos that have been uploaded with the intent to have them embedded on certain sites, without making them widely available, as such. The full impact of the change is not clear, but if you do have any Unlisted videos, you'll need to take action to address the change. In addition to this, YouTube has also announced a new test designed to improve the process of addressing policy violations in video clips. "We want to make it easier for Creators to understand policy decisions, know when to appeal, and avoid similar violations in the future – that’s why we’re testing out improved policy emails that provide an example of a timestamp showing where we believe the policy violation exists in the video." The new process will provide a direct, time-stamped linked to the section of your video which YouTube's system has identified as potentially breaching its rules, while the alerts will also include specific details about the relevant Community Guideline and links to related help resources. "To start, we’re testing this with a subset of YouTube policies (so you may not see it yet) and have plans to expand to more policies in the future pending feedback and results. Many of you have specifically asked for timestamps from our Support teams, so we’re looking forward to your thoughts." That could save a lot of time, and creator angst, in trying to understand what they've done wrong in their clips, with direct reference points to help them address any potential errors - or at the least, provide a clearer understanding of what's gone wrong. That could be a big help, with YouTube's automatically detected violations often causing major headaches for YouTubers in trying to post their clips. The new process is being tested now, with a small subset of YouTube users. |