Youtube is changing and that might not be good for everyone. In the wake of the Logan Paul controversy (if you’re not filled in, he’s an idiot who filmed a dead body and youtube decided not to take it down… oh yeah it got more than 6 million views while it was up and was number 1 on trending) youtube has made changes to their partnership program. As of yesterday, the program allowed channels to monetize provided they had reached over 10,000-lifetime views. But as of this morning many formerly partnered channels, including The Last of The Good Ones the sister channel to Wicked Good Everything, woke up to this email from youtube.
The changes are as follows; YouTubers will need to have over 1,000 subscribers and over 4000 hours of watch time in a year before they are able to make money from advertisements on their videos. This is no way hurts the bigger channels who are well over 1,000 subs and 4,000 hours, instead, this hurts smaller channels. People who pursue video making as a hobby or are just trying to find their footing on the platform. In short, in a time when advertisers have left youtube due to various controversies, this change ensures that the bigger creators will make more money. Conversely, many smaller channels will be forced to leave the platform or be discouraged from starting all together.
When youtube came onto the scene it offered a sort of alternative track to success in the entertainment business. People were no longer forced to rely on gatekeepers to break in. Instead, they could create content in their bedroom. However, as time has gone on and youtube has grown exponentially it has become more corporate. Youtube with this move has become a gatekeeper for the internet age. All hope is not lost, we are in the position where we are so new that we didn’t rely on money from youtube to sustain us. We are a passion project but we feel for all those who are affected to a greater extent than us. It will be interesting to see how the bigger YouTubers react to this change. Will they stand up for the little guy or will they avoid the topic altogether quietly profiting off the death of their potential competition?
That remains to be seen but if youtube is trying to pass this off as a response to the Logan Paul situation I feel that is disingenuous, as he’ll be fine. Smaller channels will not be. Instead, I think that this is a way for youtube to kind of control who gets ads and in turn get better ad rates as they will be able to promise advertisers that the content their ads are running against is “advertiser-friendly”. (Putting aside the fact that their golden boy caused the biggest controversy in a while) Make sure if there are small YouTubers you enjoy that you subscribe to their channel and share them with your friends.
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