YouTube has been making regular changes to their policies in regards to monetization and advertiser-friendly content. Due to the amount of videos uploaded on a daily basis to YouTube, YouTube has to use several different processes to review videos, which can be automated or manual. Usually the videos are first checked using an automated process, which is not perfect, but a work in progress. However, it's possible that some times these reviews are not as accurate as they could be and they require a manual review to properly classify a video. 

For the latest updates regarding monetization and advertiser-friendly content, please check this article.

What does it mean?

The yellow icon indicates videos are still eligible to earn money in YouTube Premium, but will have limited or no ads because the video has been classified as either not suitable for all advertisers, or has been fully demonetized because YouTube believes it doesn’t meet the Advertiser-friendly content guidelines.

How does the appeal process work?

If you believe that your video was incorrectly classified, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Video Manager.
2. Make sure that your content follows the advertiser-friendly guidelines. Keep in mind that advertisers have a choice about where to show their ads.
3. Click "Request review" and follow the on-screen instructions. You'll only see this option if your video is eligible for appeal. Once you submit, the text next to the video in Video Manager will update with your appeal's status. 

Eligibility for appeal

• For channels with 10,000 subscribers or more
  • YouTube will review your video, regardless of view count.

• For channels with less than 10,000 subscribers
  • YouTube will only review your video if you have at least 1,000 views in the past 7 days.

Why does my video monetization icon keeps changing from Green to Yellow back-and-forth?

This can happen because YouTube's automated system repeatedly scans each video using the latest information available, which may cause the system to change its decision. If you feel the yellow monetization icon was an error, you can submit an appeal directly to YouTube.

Do you have any recommendations/tips?

• Make sure that your video content is following all YouTube's Advertiser-friendly guidelines. Review these guidelines periodically as YouTube makes frequent updates.
• Review your video's metadata (title, description, thumbnail and tags), they must comply with the advertiser-friendly guidelines as well.
• If you have more than 10,000 subscribers, upload your videos as unlisted or private. If your video is classified as "Not suitable for all advertisers", this will avoid potential revenue loss due to the time it takes to process an appeal/review. Once uploaded, it take typically 2 hours for YouTube to review your video.
• If you have less than 10,000 subscribers, you can make adjustments to the title, description or thumbnail of the video, YouTube will take another look at your video within 24 hours (without having to request a manual review).

• Here are some resources that you may find useful to correctly monetizing your videos:

  • Advertiser-friendly guidelines and best practices

  • Monetization icon troubleshooter

  • Creator Blog post on advertiser-friendly content guidelines

  • Creator Academy lesson on creating advertiser-friendly content

  • Forum post on appeals process

Note: Video classification may change due to continuous reviews YouTube makes, even if it was initially classified as suitable for all advertisers (green icon).