YouTube Demonetization: What It Is & What To Do About It
Congratulations! You have achieved YouTube monetization: you have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months, at least 1,000 subscribers, and you are part of the YouTube Partner Program.
If you are a YouTube video content creator relying on YouTube for your income, you may have a fear of Adpocalypse – being denied advertising revenue from your YouTube videos. Ease your worries by understanding YouTube monetization, how to prevent being demonetized, and how to recover if you are demonetized.
What is YouTube Demonetization?
YouTube demonetization means the ability to earn ad revenue from a video or a channel that has been disabled. YouTube has community guidelines and policies to manage and control the way YouTube creators make money. You risk having your video demonetized if you violate any YouTube monetization policy.
YouTube uses various algorithms to sweep its ecosystem. YouTube’s algorithms can place a video front and center, or it can demonetize and remove a video for violations. All types of content on YouTube, including videos, comments, links, and thumbnails, are subject to violations.
Photo by Yan Krukov, Pexels
Prevent YouTube Demonetization from Happening to You
Even huge social media influencers like Logan Paul, who has over 23 million YouTube subscribers, can be demonetized. How? Well, recently he was demonetized for posting harmful content. You can avoid having to figure out how to end demonetization by following YouTube’s rules and preventing it from happening in the first place. What are those rules?
Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses
Unlimited custom invoices and quotes
Smart invoicing with automated tracking 
Streamline onboarding
Global bank connectivity YouTube Demonetization Rules Simplified
YouTube’s policies and guidelines are spread across multiple documents: YouTube’s Community Guidelines, YouTube’s Terms of Service, YouTube’s Copyright & Fair Use Policies, Google Adsense program policies, and YouTube’s Advertiser-friendly content guidelines. You can find the complete set of these documents here.
We have condensed the guidelines into a short list of strategies you can follow to maintain your video monetization.
Create Original Content
Be original and post creative, unique videos. Various policies relate to curating or using other creators’ copyrighted content, music, news clips, etc. Violations could result in copyright strikes, lawsuits, and other problems.
Avoid Harassment, Cyberbullying, and Hate Speech
Stay far away from any offensive material and anything that can incite violence. Also, avoid drug-related topics, suicide, violence, and dangerous acts. YouTube advertisers will avoid your entire channel if you push the boundaries on these controversial issues.
Keep it Clean
Stay away from nudity, profanity, vulgarity, and sexual content if you want to earn money. You are sure to be demonetized with adult-themed videos. If posting racy content, restrict the video to viewers over 18 or turn off the monetization to remove the video from scrutiny.
Do Not Deceive
Don’t ride on the coattails of other creators. Spamming, scams, or deceptive practices that invite infractions include taking credit for others’ videos and adding tags or comments with links to your videos on other creators’ content.
Do Not Disparage YouTube
Don’t bite the hand that feeds. This is a big no-no.
Related Articles
How to Fix a Demonetized YouTube Channel or Video
Even with diligent and careful management of your YouTube channel, it’s possible for one or more of your videos to get flagged with the dreaded yellow demonetization icon. Before you abandon YouTube and move your content to Patreon, however, follow these steps to restore your revenue stream.
- Ask for a review. You can ask for a review of your video if you believe your video was flagged in error. Reviews are done only once and the decision is final.
- Modify your content. Edit the video to remove the offending content, then report your changes for review.
- Remove the video. Delete the video from the site. If your violations are egregious, this may not resolve the issue.
- Turn off monetization. Eliminate the impact on the rest of your YouTube channel by turning off the monetization for that video.
Turn to Sonary for Your Business Marketing Needs
YouTube is a fun and exciting platform for the entire family. If you are a content contributor, it can also be an excellent way to earn money.
At Sonary, we provide expert business knowledge so you can make better informed and faster decisions. We offer software reviews for email Marketing, Merchant Services, POS, Payroll Services, etc. and more.
