YouTube recently announced that its partner program now has over 2 million creators. The partner program was launched 14 years ago and allows video creators to make money from YouTube videos.
What is the YouTube Partner Program?
YouTube’s partner program is a way for creators to monetize their channels and make money from the ads that are served on their videos. In order to join the program creators must have over 4000 valid hours of watch time within the past 12 months, have over 1000 subscribers, and have a linked AdSense account. Once a creator becomes a part of the program they get access to YouTube’s creator support team, the copyright match tool, and monetization features.
See also: SoftBank Vision Fund 2 invest $120 million in Adverity
YouTube’s Top Creators and Advertiser Concerns
The partner program has made YouTube the platform of choice for some of the world's biggest online content creators. Some of these include PewDiePie, Jenna Marbles, MrBeast, and more. However, one challenge that has always plagued the company is advertiser concerns. Advertisers pull their ads when creators engage in activities that cause controversy, or reflect poorly on the platform. Hence, YouTube has always struggled to find a balance between giving creators the freedom to make their own content and addressing advertisers' concerns. In this pursuit, the company has made some questionable decisions of its own. For example, this past year the company demonetized any videos that mentioned the Coronavirus as it is considered a sensitive topic.
How partners feel about YouTube
Over the past few years, YouTube’s algorithm has become infamous for being difficult to understand or work with. Creators have become frustrated with the platform as it seems to reward questionable behavior, encourages clickbait, and disproportionately enforces guidelines. Many creators are using their YouTube channels to diversify and build audiences on other platforms like Patreon, Facebook Watch, and others. Creators have also started to rely more on sponsorships to earn revenue instead of solely relying on ad revenue from YouTube.
What’s the Future of the YouTube Partner Program?
In the second quarter of 2021, YouTube ads earned revenue in excess of $7 billion. YouTube paid more to its creators in this quarter than any other in the company’s history. In a blog post on Monday, chief product officer at YouTube, Neal Mohan wrote, “YouTube is built on the premise of openness, which allows millions of creators to find a voice and a community. However, we set a higher bar for what channels can make money on our platform. We have every incentive to continue to tackle problematic content on our platform: it is not just the right thing for our viewers and creators, it’s also good for business. We’ll continue our responsibility work even as we continue to grow the YouTube Partner Program, and we consider these investments core to the future success of the creator economy at large.”
YouTube’s partner program is going strong and will continue to grow over the coming years. Subscribe to Whitepapers.online for more news from the world of tech.
Featured image: Mockup psd created by syifa5610 - www.freepik.com