Author Topic: Youtube firing all monitized channels <1000 subs, lets make a subscriber pool  (Read 15592 times)

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Offline Red Squirrel

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I heard about this.  That's insane!  Youtube are getting more and more ridiculous.  How are smaller channels expected to even have a chance?  Then again that's how capitalism works, only the big survive, sadly that's the approach YT is taking.

Oddly I did not get the notice yet on my channel and it's very small, I just use it to post the odd random video.  I'm sure I'm bound to get hit since I'm way below the threshold.   When you look at analytics it's in minutes but their threshold is in hours.  4,000 hours is a LOT.   

Subbed to your channel, I already had watched lot of your videos and I'm just playing that list in the background on another tab.   I wonder if the hours still count for videos that I already watched though.  Could be an interesting experiment to do in a more controlled way.

I guess a good idea to cheat this system might be to upload hour+ videos of anything, does not really matter, and just ask subscribers to play the whole playlist in another tab.    Does not even need to have sound or they can mute it.
 

Offline langwadt

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I'm also impacted by this, I have the sub count but not the view time. I'm 60000 minutes short (analytics report in minutes, but the restrictions is in hours, presumably to make the number looks smaller?)

I made $27 from YT last year, which is an absolutely woeful return on investment of the time I put into my videos (I think I could literally do one hour of free lance work as a software dev and pass that out :) ), so if I was in it for the money I'm doing the wrong thing! In fact the only reason I enabled ads is I'm convinced YT only recommends videos with ads.

I'm also fortunate enough that I can fund my own channel and projects, but I would hate to thing someone isn't doing a project or video because they can't afford it cause they didn't get the $100 or whatever. There is places where $100 would go quite a long way too.

There is a couple of things that bothers me about this:

  • Are smaller channels going to get the same opportunities to be recommended now that they are not monetized?
  • The system favors longer videos

Regarding the longer videos, I made the decision that my style of videos would be as concise as possible, as that's how I like to view videos, and I feel like I'm being punished for it. I try to have as little fluff as possible on my videos. This doesn't suit all styles of videos but it works ok for me. My most popular video series is called two minute tidbits, which are heavily condensed videos on one subject or area. Making videos this short takes more time than you think! The average time it would take me one is maybe 4-6 hours.

I'm probably going to wind up short of the target of 4k hours even with the boost my channel got from Dave (It's going to be quite close though). But I'm not going to stop making videos, or even change what videos I make or how I make them.

I'm just going to have to knock it out of the park for the next month :)

it is really worth bothering google writing a check, and your viewers having to put up with ads for $27 ?

 

Offline witnessmenow

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I'm also impacted by this, I have the sub count but not the view time. I'm 60000 minutes short (analytics report in minutes, but the restrictions is in hours, presumably to make the number looks smaller?)

I made $27 from YT last year, which is an absolutely woeful return on investment of the time I put into my videos (I think I could literally do one hour of free lance work as a software dev and pass that out :) ), so if I was in it for the money I'm doing the wrong thing! In fact the only reason I enabled ads is I'm convinced YT only recommends videos with ads.

I'm also fortunate enough that I can fund my own channel and projects, but I would hate to thing someone isn't doing a project or video because they can't afford it cause they didn't get the $100 or whatever. There is places where $100 would go quite a long way too.

There is a couple of things that bothers me about this:

  • Are smaller channels going to get the same opportunities to be recommended now that they are not monetized?
  • The system favors longer videos

Regarding the longer videos, I made the decision that my style of videos would be as concise as possible, as that's how I like to view videos, and I feel like I'm being punished for it. I try to have as little fluff as possible on my videos. This doesn't suit all styles of videos but it works ok for me. My most popular video series is called two minute tidbits, which are heavily condensed videos on one subject or area. Making videos this short takes more time than you think! The average time it would take me one is maybe 4-6 hours.

I'm probably going to wind up short of the target of 4k hours even with the boost my channel got from Dave (It's going to be quite close though). But I'm not going to stop making videos, or even change what videos I make or how I make them.

I'm just going to have to knock it out of the park for the next month :)

it is really worth bothering google writing a check, and your viewers having to put up with ads for $27 ?

Did you stop reading the post when you got to the $27 part? :)

Here is the analytics of traffic sources on my channel for the last year



Red line is when I started enabling ads, Maroon colour is the amount of traffic from suggested videos. You can clearly see there is a lot more maroon after I enabled ads than before.

Also there was two videos I used to watch every week after Game Of Thrones, one by Auzzie Man Reviews and one by Alt Shift X. I was subscribed to neither. I used to get notified on my phone when Alt Shift X released his video (had ads) and Auzzie Man's didn't even show up in my apps feed (no ads)

Maybe this is anecdotal evidence that doesn't mean anything, but it's good enough evidence for me to think it makes a difference.

But to answer your two points:

Re Google: I am not really bothered about the administration Google has to go through if I'm being honest. They also will only write you a cheque at $75 so I haven't received anything off them anyways.

Re Viewers: Even though it really seems like people don't care about 5 second skippable ad (I know I have never turned off a video because of it), I would have been happy to leave the ads off, but as mentioned above, I think my channel is performing better since I enabled them so It's something I'm hopping my viewers are ok with, and so far it seems like they are.

 
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Online rsjsouza

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In fact the only reason I enabled ads is I'm convinced YT only recommends videos with ads.
If channel analytics are trustworthy, I can tell that quite a large part of my traffic comes from "recommended videos".
My channel was never monetized.
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Oh, the "whys" of the datasheets... The information is there not to be an axiomatic truth, but instead each speck of data must be slowly inhaled while carefully performing a deep search inside oneself to find the true metaphysical sense...
 

Offline made2hack

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You made it over 1K, congrats! Subbed + Watched!

I'm in the same situation as you. I have the hours, but not the subs!

Offline Mashpriborintorg

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Congrats for the subs, the guest video certainly helped a lot. Also, your videos are playing on the smart tv right now, not sure if my dog is really interested tho, last time I checked him in the sofa he was sleeping  :palm:
 

Offline witnessmenow

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Congrats for the subs, the guest video certainly helped a lot. Also, your videos are playing on the smart tv right now, not sure if my dog is really interested tho, last time I checked him in the sofa he was sleeping  :palm:

Maybe you found a new market for him, videos to help your dogs sleep

Offline Yansi

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It is funny to watch the discussion. One has subs, but not watch time. Other one has time, but not subscribers. Heck, me? I have a very different trouble. I have both watch time and subscribers, but almost zero interesting content. Not even a half usable camera to produce some new content. All that traffic I get is from only a couple of videos that somehow got popular. Like a two minute shot of a TDA2030 amplifier that just plays music. Has quarter million views. Dunno why.  :-//
 

Offline igendel

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Now, to add to the fun of it all...

I have two channels, one of them with only ~250 subscribers, so I started moving my videos from there to the somewhat bigger channel. Then the ad-pocalypse hit: The almighty Algorithm decided my videos about the Arduino Serial Monitor are "Not suitable for most advertisers".

Of course I can ask for a manual review, but they'll only do it when the video reaches 1000 views... so even though I have enough subscribers and watch-hours to keep earning these sweet $5 a month, in practice I can't.

You can check out the video if you like, but be warned, the Algorithm found it offensive and it's based on Google's latest machine learning technology!  :palm:

 
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Offline witnessmenow

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Now, to add to the fun of it all...

I have two channels, one of them with only ~250 subscribers, so I started moving my videos from there to the somewhat bigger channel. Then the ad-pocalypse hit: The almighty Algorithm decided my videos about the Arduino Serial Monitor are "Not suitable for most advertisers".

Of course I can ask for a manual review, but they'll only do it when the video reaches 1000 views... so even though I have enough subscribers and watch-hours to keep earning these sweet $5 a month, in practice I can't.

You can check out the video if you like, but be warned, the Algorithm found it offensive and it's based on Google's latest machine learning technology!  :palm:

 

2 of my last 3 videos have been demonetized, both "not suitable for most advertisers". One was about programming an attiny85 and the other was Building a chest from the Legend of Zelda games so not exactly controversial topics!

FYI, The message says that you can only appeal after 1K views, but I successfully appealed the Attiny85 video and it doesn't even have the 1k views now.

Offline igendel

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FYI, The message says that you can only appeal after 1K views, but I successfully appealed the Attiny85 video and it doesn't even have the 1k views now.

That's interesting. I'll keep an eye on my application and update if something similar happens to me.

One was about programming an attiny85 and the other was Building a chest from the Legend of Zelda games so not exactly controversial topics!

Wasn't the Zelda chest featured recently on the Microchip Makes facebook page? Nice work!
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Offline witnessmenow

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Oh I didn't know that! Thanks for letting me know!

Offline Mr. Scram

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Does Youtube really want botnets that watch videos? Because this is how you get them for sure. Maybe someone will even start a nice service to guarantee the monetization of your channel or specific videos.

They really lost it.
 
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Online Bud

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This is taking ridiculous form. @OP: how much satisfaction you have now knowing that people "play" but not "watch" your videos and even dogs are bored by them?
Facebook-free life and Rigol-free shack.
 
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Online rsjsouza

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2 of my last 3 videos have been demonetized, both "not suitable for most advertisers". One was about programming an attiny85 and the other was Building a chest from the Legend of Zelda games so not exactly controversial topics!
I am not sure how the whole message is displayed, but I just thought of something: a video that is "not suitable for most advertisers" is different than having "inappropriate content" (or something similar that conveys the idea of having content not suitable for all audiences).

I am curious if it is simply due to the fact the advertisers do not want to pay for ads placed in certain types of videos. A hypothetic example: a company that manufacturers animal products may not want to pay for ads placed in the "Science & Technology" category, or a fashion brand does not want to pay for ads placed in the "Autos & Vehicles".
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Oh, the "whys" of the datasheets... The information is there not to be an axiomatic truth, but instead each speck of data must be slowly inhaled while carefully performing a deep search inside oneself to find the true metaphysical sense...
 

Offline witnessmenow

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2 of my last 3 videos have been demonetized, both "not suitable for most advertisers". One was about programming an attiny85 and the other was Building a chest from the Legend of Zelda games so not exactly controversial topics!
I am not sure how the whole message is displayed, but I just thought of something: a video that is "not suitable for most advertisers" is different than having "inappropriate content" (or something similar that conveys the idea of having content not suitable for all audiences).

I am curious if it is simply due to the fact the advertisers do not want to pay for ads placed in certain types of videos. A hypothetic example: a company that manufacturers animal products may not want to pay for ads placed in the "Science & Technology" category, or a fashion brand does not want to pay for ads placed in the "Autos & Vehicles".


So I think that's some of the problem, It's not at all clear! I don't know the reason exactly, and YouTube's stance is super vague:

Quote
A video will be marked "Not suitable for most advertisers" in Video Manager if:

  • It is not considered suitable for all brands, so the video will receive fewer ads.
  • It does not meet the criteria for advertiser-friendly content, so the video is not eligible for advertising.


It doesn't seem like its a category thing as as both of my videos were restored after appeal, and these are my first two videos to be flagged.
 
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Offline igendel

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I am not sure how the whole message is displayed, but I just thought of something: a video that is "not suitable for most advertisers" is different than having "inappropriate content" (or something similar that conveys the idea of having content not suitable for all audiences).

I am curious if it is simply due to the fact the advertisers do not want to pay for ads placed in certain types of videos. A hypothetic example: a company that manufacturers animal products may not want to pay for ads placed in the "Science & Technology" category, or a fashion brand does not want to pay for ads placed in the "Autos & Vehicles".

No, the notice from Youtube on these videos provides this link:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6162278?hl=en

Which clearly states that the "unfriendliness" is only a matter of violence, hate, illegal activities etc.
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Offline janoc

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I do wonder how much money you guys that are now crying foul about YT dropping you from their ad program were making from those ads in the first place. If you don't have the subscriptions or view hours it couldn't have been any significant amount to begin with.
 

Offline ez24

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I have two channels, one of them with only ~250 subscribers...

If you want members to find you, add a link in your Profile (like mine).  If you want to be on my list send me a message (to my link - not here).  I do not see you on the list.
thanks
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Offline igendel

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FYI, The message says that you can only appeal after 1K views, but I successfully appealed the Attiny85 video and it doesn't even have the 1k views now.

That's interesting. I'll keep an eye on my application and update if something similar happens to me.

Ok, so my applications for manual review were approved (with only ~25 views per video), but another video, that was monetized before, got the axe now...  :wtf:
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Offline Mr. Scram

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I do wonder how much money you guys that are now crying foul about YT dropping you from their ad program were making from those ads in the first place. If you don't have the subscriptions or view hours it couldn't have been any significant amount to begin with.
It's a start. You can be sure that Youtube saves a lot of money doing this. They're methodically eliminating paying content makers, pocketing the ever larger difference themselves. First they hit the top content makers, causing some to lose their livelihood. Now they target the smaller channels with less views, but present in much larger numbers.

I guess they figured out they can keep making money from ads while throwing the people who provide the value some scraps. Where are these people going to go? Nowhere, that's right. Nothing currently comes close to Youtube. Things like Patreon are actually a blessing for them, as they don't need to properly compensate people any more. They'll get the rewards anyway.

People keep forgetting that Alphabet is an advertisement company. Everything it does is intended to sell adds or are things that help selling ads, for instance by creating profiles that are as complete as possible.
 

Offline witnessmenow

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I presume when they demonetize our channels there will be no ads so YT will miss out on the revenue from our channels too.

The current system they have for demonetization is broken, the amount of videos that get flagged for no reason is crazy. Sure it's removed after a review, but this happens during the time your video is getting the most views so really when the video is going to make any money.

For those saying that it's not a lot of money, to some it's not, to others it could be more important. But even if its not a lot of money to you, If where ever you worked sent an email saying starting next month we are going to pay you $10-$20 a month less would you be happy about it?

As a creator you live in dreams that one of your videos will be a runaway success and go viral (very unlikely, but a guy can dream). With this system if that happens you will not have monetization til after the fact so you will not get paid for that happening.

It still looks like I'm going to come up short with view time requirement. I have a few videos lined up so we'll see how it goes, but I started making videos around this time last year so I'm also losing the views from my earlier videos being counted in the previous 365 days
« Last Edit: January 22, 2018, 08:53:59 am by witnessmenow »
 

Offline Red Squirrel

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I have unlimited bandwidth, I'm more than willing to click "view all" on anyone's channels and just let it go in the background.  They even have an option to loop - don't know if viewing twice counts though.  I kinda just remembered now that I still have the OP's channel open on my computer at home in a separate workspace.  (his stuff is worth checking out, lot of cool stuff like the cell antenna teardown.  Basically voodoo magic :P )

I'd be more than willing to help out any other channel. 

I see what YT is doing though, small channels may not make lot of money as is but they count on the fact that a video might go viral.  Now, if a video goes viral only YT makes money.
 

Offline ElektroQuark

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With my 21 subscribers I will be rich. Or not.

Offline grifftech

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