YouTube Tightens Rules Around Monetization | Social Media

The importance of increasing YouTube subscribers can no longer be ignored. The success of your video marketing campaign relies on the number of engaged subscribers and the number of minutes/hours they spend watching your videos.

Recently, YouTube announced that it will be tightening the rules around its Partner Program and will be raising the requirements for monetizing videos. Effective immediately, creators must have tallied 4000 hours of watch time on their channel within the past 12 months and have at least 1000 subscribers. Channels that do not meet this threshold will not be able to monetize their videos.

This is the second time in less than a year that YouTube has tightened its restrictions for its Partner Program. In April 2017, it mandated all new channels to receive 10,000 views on their channels to be considered for monetization. Once the threshold was reached, a member of the YouTube staff would manually review the channels to ensure they were in compliance with YouTube terms of use and community guidelines.

I am certain that many of the YouTube video creators have been left in frenzy. Thousands of YouTube creators who also participated in the Partner Program have seen a significant drop in their revenues since April of last year. Many of them even reported a drop in as much as 80%. Is that you? Read on!

4 Ways to Increase the Number of YouTube Subscribers

• Interact: Identify key players/creators in your industry. Frequently, watch some of the videos that have been posted and offer some constructive feedback in the comments section. As well, interact with other YouTubers in the comments section by engaging them in scholarly debates about the issues they identified.
• Increase Frequency of Posts: The main reason someone subscribes to a channel is because they love the work of the publisher and wants to see more of their videos. Therefore, commit to a publishing schedule. Rule of Thumb: post one YouTube video every week for a total of four a month. Do not forget to inform your fans about the schedule to make sure they tune in.
• Post a Trailer: YouTube offers a great feature called “channel trailers” that let you automatically play a video upon the opening of a YouTube channel. This is the moment where you need to catch your audience’s attention within a few seconds. The length of the trailer should not exceed 60 seconds.
• Promote Channel on Facebook Groups: Find 10 to 20 relevant Facebook Groups and add a comment, telling people about a YouTube video you’re proud of. If you don’t want to do this manual work, outsource to a freelancer using Upwork.

DMAC – Customized Digital Marketing Training Agency

Our customized digital marketing training agency realizes the impact of these rules on small businesses and on YouTube creators who were relying on the YouTube Partner Program for income. DMAC offers a comprehensive social media marketing training course at a competitive price of $675. As well, we provide customized social media marketing training for businesses or organizations looking to revamp their YouTube channel and implement best practices. Together we will draft a roadmap that will help you reach your threshold in as little as 3 months. Click here for more information.