If you are a creator, you have already been used to the frequent updates in YouTube policies, especially the one about Advertiser-friendly content. Below you will find the latest updates. Please make sure to read as this can help you avoid any issues and protect your channel.

September 19, 2019

January 16, 2018

In the latest post made by YouTube, new requirements to join the YouTube Partner Program were announced. This update aims to prevent spammers, impersonators, and other bad actors, from monetizing their videos while hurting the ecosystem or taking advantage of other creator's work, as well as to reward those who make YouTube great.

From now on, the eligibility requirements for monetization are:

• At least 1,000 subscribers
• At least 4,000 hours of watchtime within the past 12 months

This update represents also a next step from YouTube to prevent ads from running against content that is not suitable for advertising.

To learn more about this update, click here.

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December 4, 2017

In a new post made by YouTube, they announced that they will be taking a new approach to advertising, applying stricter criteria, using more manual reviews and "carefully considering which channels and videos are eligible for advertising". While YouTube is growing their team of trusted reviewers, there may be some delays in activating the monetization of a channel, due to the manual reviews. A case where a delay could happen is when a channel has reached 10,000 total views and the creator requested for the monetization to be enabled. If this is your case, please be patient. 

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October 26, 2017

YouTube updated today the technology responsable for the videos classification for advertiser-friendly content. This update is expected to reduce misclassifications overall. This means that if you previously had videos with the yellow icon (as seen below) you may see it turn to green, which means that the video will be fully monetized. Keep in mind, that the other videos that were green can also turn into yellow.

If you think that your videos were incorrectly classified with a yellow icon read this for additional information and what steps you should take.

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August 2017

In a recent post made by YouTube in their blog, YouTube announced that they have updated again their guidelines, and as a result, some videos were classified as not being suited for all advertisers, limiting the number of ads available. It was also announced that they are expanding the ability to appeal more videos.

In the coming weeks when YouTube rolls out new icons, you will have more details about the monetization status of your videos:

 
Indicates videos that can earn money from the broadest set of advertisers and from YouTube Premium. No change from today.

For more information on Monetization requirements and troubleshooting, click here.

For previous updates on this policy, continue reading below.

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June 2017

In a recent post YouTube shared information about an update to the Advertiser-friendly content guidelines. This update added information about a few more types of content:

• Hateful content: Content that promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual’s or group’s race, ethnicity, or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization.
  
  
• Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters: Videos depicting family entertainment characters or content, whether animated or live action, engaged in violent, sexual, vile, or otherwise inappropriate behavior, even if done for comedic or satirical purposes, are not eligible for advertising.
  
  
• Incendiary and demeaning content: Content that is gratuitously incendiary, inflammatory, or demeaning. For example, video content that uses gratuitously disrespectful language that shames or insults an individual or group.

Other examples of content that is considered non advertiser-friendly are:

• Sexually suggestive content, including partial nudity and sexual humor
  
  
• Violence, including display of serious injury and events related to violent extremism
  
  
• Inappropriate language, including harassment, profanity and vulgar language
  
  
• Promotion of drugs and regulated substances, including selling, use and abuse of such items
  
  
• Controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not show.

Important: These guidelines apply to any portion of a video or video metadata, including video title, thumbnail, or tags.

Please note that these are only examples and do not represent the full range of possible non advertiser-friendly content. To view more information and guidelines around advertiser-friendly content, including the appeal process, please visit the official policy page at this link. 

This is not a new policy but has been improved to ensure the transparency of YouTube's monetization system.  Please note that a video may be demonetized for other reasons aside from being non advertiser-friendly. If the monetization on your video was removed for other reasons, then please be sure to you use YouTube’s monetization troubleshooter located here to get more detailed information.

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Other previous key changes made by YouTube include improvement of the notification and appeal process for their policy on demonetizing videos due to non-advertiser friendly content. 

• Changed the $ icon in Video Manager to yellow with the hover message “Not advertiser-friendly. Request manual review” to make it more clear when a video is demonetized
• YouTube sends Creators an email notifying them if a video is demonetized due to advertiser-friendly content concerns. (videos that are already monetized may still be demonetized when deemed inappropriate)
• Creators can click on the yellow $ icon next to any video that is demonetized due to advertiser-friendly content concerns in Video Manager to request an appeal by YouTube's human reviewers.  The video will be monetized again and channel owner will be notified when the review is successful

 
After reading this FAQ, if you have any questions or concerns about Advertiser-friendly content, please contact our support team by opening a ticket here.