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YouTube tightens guidelines, but gives creators tools to earn cash

Hillary K. Grigonis
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Image used with permission by copyright holder
YouTube is waging a war on inappropriate content — and now the video platform is addressing the creators it left behind after tightening up restrictions on which videos can and cannot earn ad revenue. On Monday, August 7, YouTube announced several changes to the Video Manager that will allow video creators to see which content is earning money and file an appeal for the videos that aren’t. The YouTube Video Manager update will roll out over the next few weeks.

The change is part of a longer string of updates that stemmed from several major companies leaving the platform when their ads were mixed with objectionable content. YouTube responded by creating stricter guidelines and beefing up the software designed to detect that questionable content. Now, YouTube is turning to the creators and offering more tools for users to be able to quickly determine which videos qualify for advertising and to file appeals for videos that may have been wrongly left out of the advertising platform.

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The first new feature coming to the Video Manager is a set of icons that allow creators to easily see how their videos are categorized. A green icon indicates the video is eligible for income from the broadest range of advertisers. A yellow icon shows the videos that are eligible for profit from YouTube Red, but are disqualified from full advertising potential because of those updated advertising guidelines. A third, slashed-out money sign identifies videos that aren’t eligible for ads or YouTube Red income.

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Those new icons are then used in YouTube’s updated monetization troubleshooter, which helps users get to the root of the problem by flagging potential issues with the video. If creators believe their video meets the content guidelines but was still excluded, the Video Manager now allows users to appeal without going to a separate webpage to file that appeal.

YouTube says that every appeal helps its classification software improve, reducing the number of incorrectly classified videos in the future. The company also notes that the amount creators receive isn’t changing with the update to the Video Manager.

YouTube will be rolling out the changes over the next few weeks — creators will receive a notification inside Creator Studio when the new features are accessible.

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Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary K. Grigonis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
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