How will YouTube's new monetisation policy impact creators?
While YouTube did not directly mention Generative AI, many creators and content makers believe that the update will affect those who rely heavily on machine generated media to make their videos.
What is the new YouTube Partner Program (YPP) policy?
YouTubers need 500 subscribers in order for their channels to be eligible to apply for the Partner Programme. After securing 1,000 subscribers, partners can unlock ad revenue and start earning from the ads shown in their videos. This is one way the company ensures that trusted, high-quality content makers are rewarded for their efforts rather than throwaway accounts trying to make a quick buck.
There are multiple ways to monetise content as a YouTube partner, with varying eligibility requirements and regional restrictions. Some of these strategies include advertising revenue, shopping, YouTube Premium revenue, channel memberships, and Super Chat/Stickers/Thanks perks that fans can pay for.
Monetisation is a serious matter for creators, and especially those aiming to grow a large audience and make high-quality YouTube videos a major source of their income. YouTube shared that it paid more than $70 billion to creators, artists, and media companies from 2021 to 2023. Naturally, many creators also get frustrated when their videos are demonetised for regulatory reasons they do not understand or agree with.
What is YouTube's monetisation history?
From its early days, YouTube's approach to monetisation has steadily evolved, moving from a largely open system to a more curated environment that prioritises original, authentic content. This progression reflects the platform's efforts to make the content sticky for viewers so that more valuable space can be created for advertisers.
In the initial stages of creator monetisation around 2016, the rules were minimal. Channels could be monetised almost instantly upon creation without needing to meet specific subscriber or watch-hour goals. This allowed for the proliferation of 'faceless' channels that primarily relied on low-effort content, such as compiling viral video clips without original commentary. These simple compilation videos could generate significant revenue with relative ease.
A significant shift occurred around 2018 when YouTube introduced its now-standard monetisation requirements — 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. This policy was a clear signal that the platform was beginning to favour channels that could build and sustain a genuine audience. This update effectively demonetised many of the simple compilation channels that lacked original input.
Following this, YouTube continued to refine its guidelines, targeting specific niches that were considered low-effort and repetitive. In 2019, channels featuring rain sounds or ambient noise faced demonetisation as they were often seen as non-transformative. According to the U.S. Copyright Law, a transformative use is a kind of fair use that builds on an original content and creates something new.
By 2020, YouTube cracked down on the wave of channels that used robotic, text-to-speech voices to read Reddit stories, flagging them as 'mass-produced' and unoriginal.
This historical trend will culminate in the upcoming July 2025 policy change. This latest update aims to 'better identify' content that is mass-produced, repetitive, and fails to meaningfully transform source material.
YouTube has clarified this is an enhancement of long-standing policies, intended to remove content that viewers often consider spam. This move targets channels that upload high volumes of templated or AI-generated videos.
Is YouTube banning Generative AI content?
While YouTube did not explicitly mention that it was taking action against Generative AI content, this is what many content creators took the policy update to mean. The use of synthetic content such as visuals, voiceovers, and art now raises complex legal questions about whether YouTube is giving users the ability to monetise content that could one day be hit with copyright strikes or lawsuits.
YouTube noted that it always required creators to upload original' and 'authentic' content to monetise as part of its partner programme. Its new policy says it will identify 'mass-produced and repetitious content' but does not currently mention penalising such videos or banning them. Users will have to simply wait and see.
In essence, while genuine content creators who deliver well-produced original videos should not be impacted by the update, those who are simply pushing the same low-quality videos made with AI tools to rack up subscribers and views will face increased scrutiny in the future.
How does YouTube's new policy affect content creators?
For content creators, this policy shift underscores the increasing importance of originality and transformative work. Channels that simply aggregate content without adding a unique perspective or commentary are at high risk of demonetisation. Creators will now have to adapt by focusing on original and authentic videos, where a unique voice and personality can be established. The key takeaway for creators is to move beyond mere aggregation and to use their content to tell a story, offer analysis, or provide a unique and engaging perspective.
From YouTube's perspective, this new monetisation policy is a strategic move designed to improve the overall quality and integrity of the platform. By filtering out low-effort, repetitive, and spammy content, YouTube aims to keep users coming back to its platform regularly, which in turn encourages them to spend more time on the site — that's good for its ads business.
A higher-quality content library not only makes the platform attractive to advertisers; it can also be used by its parent, Alphabet, as fodder to train its Gemini AI models.
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