How to Navigate YouTube’s Unclear Demonetization System
We engaged with several experienced YouTube creators who share their wisdom and advice
Thank you to Eli Vazquez, Michelle Wan, Gabe Saldivar, and Lily Randhawa for researching and producing this piece. Eli, Michelle, Gabe, and Lily are students at Stanford University studying ethics in technology.
If you’ve followed YouTube long enough, then you’ve probably heard something about “demonetization.” Ever since the so-called “Adpocalypse,” when advertisers began pulling ads from YouTube over fears of association with problematic content, YouTube began demonetizing videos that don’t meet certain guidelines, preventing their creators from making money off of them. This whole system is a black box; YouTubers upload their videos, the system decides whether the video is “not suitable for advertisers,” and nobody outside of Google knows exactly how the decision is made. Add onto that YouTube’s ContentID copyright claim system and YouTube’s constantly changing policy guidelines, and it becomes even more difficult to make a living off of the platform. Gaming YouTubers in particular have their own host of issues to deal with, since their content always involves copyrighted materials, and the games they play may include content YouTube deems to be “not suitable for advertisers.”
We decided to look into what exactly demonetization and copyright mean for gaming YouTubers, and how they can avoid getting their income taken away. For the past few weeks, we have been reaching out to gaming YouTubers to learn about their experiences and the techniques they use to avoid demonetization. We spoke to a handful of prominent gaming YouTubers, as well as gathered survey data from LetsPlayers on the r/letsplay subreddit. So, what exactly did these folks have to say about demonetization and copyright claims?
The YouTube/Creator Relationship
One key issue that came up time and time again in our interviews was a lack of communication between YouTube and the creators who use their platform. When we asked YouTuber Red Bard how effectively the platform communicates with her, her response was simply “not. Not effectively at all.” She expressed that her channel doesn’t often run into issues, but, when it does, she’s left with no recourse but to reach out to Team YouTube via Twitter, and even then she’s met with frustrating “non-answers.” Many of our survey respondents expressed a similar sentiment, demanding “directly messaging, clear language, [and] two-way discussions regarding policy changes.” Others pointed out that YouTube does send out certain information via email, but that many content creators might not be aware of that fact. Whatever the case, it’s clear that many content creators are uncertain of YouTube’s policies and wish for greater transparency.
“The video is actually rated on a scale, I don’t know the exact numbers but let’s say 0 is completely demonetized and 10 is fully monetized. There are many values in between that most are unaware of because they only see the yellow/green icon.”
Apollo Legend (speed running commentator)
This lack of certainty becomes a major problem when dealing with YouTube’s blackbox algorithms. Because nobody outside of Google knows exactly what YouTube is looking for when deciding what gets demonetized, creators can’t be certain of how to tailor their content to YouTube’s system, outside of some vague guidelines. As speed run commentator Apollo Legend shared with us, many YouTubers aren’t even aware that there are multiple levels of demonetization. “The video is actually rated on a scale, I don’t know the exact numbers but let’s say 0 is completely demonetized and 10 is fully monetized. There are many values in between that most are unaware of because they only see the yellow/green icon.” Red Bard mentioned that, while she has gotten a few of the yellow, partially demonetized marks, she’s never seen the red, fully demonetized mark on any of her videos. She also mentioned that YouTube doesn’t actually send notifications to creators when a video gets demonetized. A copyright claim will send her a notification, “but, if it’s just a video getting limited monetization, I have never gotten a notification for it. I don’t know if there’s a setting I can turn on that will let me. If there is, I don’t know where to find it; YouTube is always messing with their UI so I can never find stuff like that.” All of these unclear systems make navigating copyright and demonetization more difficult for creators than it needs to be.
Demonetization Factors
Early on into our research, one thing became very clear: everyone on YouTube has a different experience with demonetization. While some of our survey respondents said that demonetization is something that hardly affects their channel and feel that the problems with the system are overblown, others stressed that it has a major impact on their livelihoods. One respondent even told us that their entire channel was demonetized at one point. Similarly, while some YouTubers told us that demonetization and copyright claims have only happened a handful of times in their channel’s existence, if ever, others told us that their videos get demonetized at least a few times a month. It’s also worth mentioning that most of the channels with less than 1,000 subscribers who responded to us don’t even monetize their videos, and only 10% of the total respondents use YouTube as their full time job. While some of this disparity just comes down to luck, we also found certain techniques used by creators which help them avoid demonetization and copyright claims.
One key factor in demonetization we were able to identify was inappropriate language. Many of the respondents to our survey listed this as one of the biggest reasons videos get demonetized. One of the YouTubers we had a chance to talk to directly, Roger DiLuigi, better known as RogersBase, went into detail about how language has affected his channel. He told us that his first video to get demonetized “was a Pokemon waifu video . . . There was nothing, like, inappropriate in it at all, but, the video, just because it had the name ‘waifu,’ it got demonetized.” Even though Roger doesn’t curse on his channel, in late 2017 he found many of his videos getting demonetized due to keywords which YouTube’s algorithm was looking out for. “There were keywords, like ‘fights,’ or ‘battle,’ or like ‘death’ . . . and all of those videos were the ones that were hit.” So, one technique Roger adopted to avoid this issue was finding alternative words to use. Instead of “fight,” or “battle,” which tend to get flagged, Roger recommends using the term “clash.” “If you use clash, that’s something that rarely ever gets stricken with demonetization.”
Not only does YouTube’s algorithm pick up on titles, but it also looks at the description and tags. To help with search engine optimization, Roger won’t put “death” in the tags of his videos if a character dies, but rather think of terms surrounding that event, like the character who died or the chapter number. Roger also found that adding the descriptors only after the video has been uploaded can help avoid demonetization, presumably because the algorithm has already approved the video before the description was added. “You can’t really go back and change the title without really messing up your video in the algorithm, but tags are something you can go back and change constantly. So, if there’s a tag in particular you think is questionable, you can still go back and change it . . .”
One technique Roger adopted to avoid [demonetization over inappropriate language] was finding alternative words to use. Instead of “fight,” or “battle,” which tend to get flagged, Roger recommends using the term “clash.”
Thumbnails are also a major source of demonetization, which can be tricky to deal with. Unlike titles and descriptions, where you can try to avoid certain keywords, it’s difficult to tell if an image is inappropriate enough to trigger demonetization. To counter this, RogersBase came up with a truly ingenious solution which other YouTubers may want to emulate. “I noticed in the early days of my channel that my thumbnails were getting demonetized . . . I found that a really good way to test that is to upload your thumbnails to Imgur, and then back search your own Imgur file in safe search. And, if it doesn’t show up in safe search, then you know it would get demonetized from YouTube, since Google obviously owns YouTube.” While it’s impossible to know exactly what Google is looking for, this method can test whether your thumbnail meets their standards before uploading, meaning you don’t have to risk getting demonetized.
In addition to the titles and thumbnails surrounding a video, the content of the video itself also plays a major role in determining monetization. Unfortunately, this might mean avoiding certain games or topics if you don’t want to risk demonetization. For instance, one of the respondents to our survey said that their channel tends to get demonetized more often because they play a lot of horror games which feature graphic imagery. While this hasn’t discouraged them from making content on the games they enjoy, other respondents said they try to avoid M rated games and topics like WWII and Covid-19 for this reason. However, fears around some of these topics may not be necessary, at least according to some of the people we talked to. When we asked RogersBase about the rumors of videos getting demonetized for Covid-19, he told us that this has never happened to him, and he’s been able to discuss the topic freely. To avoid content issues in his reaction streams, Roger has an alternate stream layout which hides the screen and just shows his face. If things start getting racy, he just switches to this layout for as long as he needs to
Another important aspect of a video’s content is whether it contains swearing. One common rule of thumb is to avoid swearing in the first 30 seconds of a video. While it’s important to hook a viewer early into a video, RogersBase told us that “a lot of the time that will come down to them, like, using an expletive or screaming or something like that, and I’ve found that you can still be energetic without doing that.” Roger told us that he made a conscious decision early on to be a family friendly channel, which has helped him avoid demonetization. “I knew going forward with my YouTube channel that the companies I’d want to work with regularly, companies like Nintendo or the Pokemon Company, they wouldn’t want to work with someone who’s just swearing every other word. So I consciously made a point to make sure that all my content was clean. . . In the long run, it’s gonna hurt me if there are brands that I really want to work with that don’t want to work with creators like that.”
Navigating Copyright
In addition to demonetization YouTube creators have to worry about copyright claims. These claims can be placed manually, but are usually placed by YouTube’s automated ContentID system. Fortunately for gaming YouTubers, this system can only detect fixed, predetermined content. As Mark Brown who runs the game design analysis channel Game Maker’s Toolkit told us, “video games are largely immune to copyright strikes because each person’s gameplay is unique, and so they are very difficult to automatically compare to archived footage.” However, he let us know that games aren’t entirely immune to the system. “Some gameplay is identical all the time, though, such as cutscenes — so I try to avoid using those too much.” RogersBased mentioned that some games will have certain moments that the devs have stated they don’t want YouTubers to show, such as the ending to the new Final Fantasy VII remake, so it may be wise to avoid those. However, Roger claims that he hasn’t had issues with these types of moments in his videos so long as he’s commentating over them. “Normally, they won’t have an issue so long as you don’t have the audio and you’re not just playing the full video . . . they were copyright striking people who just uploaded the ending end and didn’t have any commentary and didn’t have anything to add to it.” However, there have been other situations where YouTubers have received copyright claims regardless of their commentary, like in Pokemon Sun and Moon where a particular attack animation was triggering copyright claims, so it’s still prudent to do your own research and risk assessment on a case by case basis.
One common source of copyright claims is music. While game music tends to be okay, playing popular songs is a sure way to get your video claimed. Mark Brown told us that “the one time I did this, I used a few seconds of the song Blitzkrieg Bop from The Ramones and it was immediately flagged for copyright.” Many of the respondents to our survey also noted that licenced pop songs in games can also be claimed, so make sure to check if a game has licensed music before doing a video on it. If you do have to play a certain amount of a song or other copyrighted audio, Red Bard recommends using no more than 5 seconds to avoid detection. For longer content like anime reactions, RogersBase suggests turning off audio completely, as he finds that’s what gets claimed most often. As for alternatives, many of our respondents recommended using game music and remixes, as well as royalty free songs.
“The one time I did this, I used a few seconds of the song Blitzkrieg Bop from The Ramones and it was immediately flagged for copyright.”
Mark Brown (Game Maker’s Toolkit)
If you’re not sure if a clip will get claimed, Red Bard came up with a clever strategy to test this. She recalled an instance where she wanted to use an audio clip in a video, but noticed that there was a My Chemical Romance song playing in the background. Red Bard decided to upload that portion on its own as a private video to see if it would get claimed. Sure enough, it did, and she removed that clip from her video before uploading. Similar to RogersBase’s Imgur test, this method of testing before uploading is a great way to save you some copyright claim pain.
In addition to these general tips, it is also a good idea to do some research about the copyright holders for the games you’re planning on playing. One company notorious for rampant copyright claims is Nintendo. In our interview, Red Bard mentioned that she tries to avoid making content on their games and trailers outright because of this. RogersBase, on the other hand, says that Nintendo has gotten much better recently, and he hasn’t had trouble making content about their games lately. Roger says that the company he watches out for is manga publisher Shueisha, which holds the copyright to popular Shonen Jump series. “You could have a 15 minute discussion video . . . and have a 3 second clip of a manga panel just discussing whatever it is you’re going to talk about, and they will immediately strike that video.” He does say that they’ve been lighting up a bit as well, but they are still very strict when it comes to spoilers for unpublished chapters. Roger also points out that Shueisha, like Nintendo, is a Japanese company, so cultural differences may contribute to their copyright strictness. In any event, it may prove useful to do your due diligence and research companies before making videos about their copyrighted content.
Outside Resources
One potential avenue YouTubers may consider is finding outside resources and alternate forms of monetization to shield themselves from demonetization. One such resource our respondents commented on is multi-channel networks, or MCNs, which are supposed to help their members with legal troubles, advertisers, and promotision among other things. However, our respondents reported mixed results with these networks. Red Bard, who’s been with multiple networks, told us about some of their positive qualities. For instance, her current MCN, Frederator, provides her with a library of music to use in her videos. However, she’s still often left to reach out to Team YouTube via Twitter by herself.
RogersBase, on the other hand, had a much more negative view of MCNs. When we asked him what countermeasures he used when his videos started getting demonetized, he told us that “I was still partnered with Maker Studios when it first started happening. And, so, the first thing I actually did was I removed myself from the partnership program.” Not only were they no help in dealing with demonetization, but they were taking a substantial cut of his video revenue on top of the cut YouTube already takes. “I had assumed this is why someone would want an MCN, right? To protect us from things like this. So, when they didn’t help, I left, and then I connected YouTube because I was part of their Next Step program, and they hooked me up with a partner manager at YouTube directly.” Roger tells us that this partner manager has been a huge help, taking care of any false claims and providing information. While not everyone is in such a fortunate situation, this does show how reaching out can actually yield beneficial results.
“A demonetised video will see YouTube put adverts on your video automatically, and send all the revenue to the copyright holder. And of course if you’re really out of line then the video or even your entire channel can be removed from YouTube. So it pays to stick to the rules.”
Mark Brown (Game Maker’s Toolkit)
Another resource a few of our respondents talked about is crowdfunding from their audience using sites like Patreon. Mark Brown’s channel, Game Maker’s Toolkit, relies entirely on Patreon for funding. Mark tells us “yeah, Patreon is a huge help. If I was relying on the advertising revenue from every video I made, then one being demonetised would be a debilitating blow. I don’t rely on YouTube ads at all, so it’s not a big deal if a video gets demonetised.” However, just because he uses Patreon doesn’t mean he can completely disregard demonetization. “A demonetised video will see YouTube put adverts on your video automatically, and send all the revenue to the copyright holder. And of course if you’re really out of line then the video or even your entire channel can be removed from YouTube. So it pays to stick to the rules.”
Red Bard, whose channel used Patreon in the past, told us she quit the service due to the stress of providing backer rewards every month. While she still uses other means of crowdsourcing, like YouTube’s “tip jar” system, Patreon was just too much for her. While crowdfunding doesn’t mean you can completely disregard demonetization and comes with its own share of problems, it can still be a hugely beneficial cushion of financial security.
COPPA
In addition to all of the problems YouTubers currently have, they also have to deal with YouTube’s ever shifting set of policies and guidelines, only adding to the existing uncertainty. Most recently, after the FTC enacted COPPA, a set of rules designed to protect children online, YouTube rolled out its new “made for kids” system to comply with these rules. Creators can either manually mark their content as “made for kids,” or a video may also be automatically marked as such. Like demonetization, it’s unclear how the system makes its decision, and YouTubers have to manually appeal if they have been marked incorrectly.
This new system has many of our respondents worried about being mistakenly marked as “made for kids.” Not only do marked videos have the types of ads that can play on them limited, but being “made for kids” also impacts algorithmic performance and disables the comments section. Needless to say, none of our respondents manually marked their content as for kids. Mark Brown told us that “I am slightly concerned that some videos, such as one on making a Super Mario Maker 2 level, could arguably be suitable for children and I may be flaunting the rules. I’m just going to hope that it’s clear that because my stuff is game design analysis, that’s a bit too mature for a child audience.”
Recently, gaming YouTubers in particular have been worried that games themselves will be seen as “for kids,” leading to their content getting marked. YouTube games critic Arlo expressed his concerns in a video after COPPA was announced, expressing how his use of a colorful puppet to represent himself in videos largely around kid friendly Nintendo games could get him mistakenly marked as “for kids.” Red Bard, who covers a lot of anime content on her channel, told us that “I live in constant fear that, one of these days YouTube is going to start cracking down on anime content . . . there’s a school of thought that all cartoons are meant for kids, which is obviously not the case . . . but unfortunately stereotypes are powerful.” This possibility that one’s livelihood could be entirely pulled out from under them is a constant, existential concern for internet content creators reliant on posting to someone else’s platform.
Creators can either manually mark their content as “made for kids,” or a video may also be automatically marked as such. Like demonetization, it’s unclear how the system makes its decision, and YouTubers have to manually appeal if they have been marked incorrectly.
However, the fears of the “made for kids” system are not reflected in the actual results of the system. Of all 25 content we spoke to, either directly or via survey, only 3 reported ever having even a single video marked as “made for kids,” and at least one of them reported that the mistake was corrected within minutes of filing an appeal. Apollo Legend commented that the whole situation was being exaggerated. “Anytime there’s one of these YouTube crises the most alarmist videos get millions of views and Patreon donations go through the roof. The people who made kids content did get screwed over but it’s a much smaller group than you’d expect . . . We’re talking videos like a firetruck with a big smiley face singing a song or a child who is reviewing toys, those are the channels that the FCC is worried about.”
RogersBase also expressed that the COPPA situation is being overblown by most creators. “Originally, I was concerned, just the way that a bunch of YouTubers were talking about it and all the hyperbole surrounding the situation. . . ‘is it gonna hurt me that I haven’t been swearing all this time?’” However, he wound up not being affected by the system at all. “How I’ve come to understand it is that the COPPA made for kids thing is specifically made of channels designated and targeted at children.” In fact, he’s noticed an uptick in ad revenue recently from family friendly brands like Oreo that are more willing to advertise on his channel. So, while the level of uncertainty going into the “made for kids” system scared many YouTubers, the reality is much more benign. Perhaps, if YouTube’s communication was better and content creators had more faith in the platform, then this issue would have never blown up in the way that it did.
Self-Certification
Another new system which has been impacting YouTube monetization lately is “self-certification.” This new system allows creators to provide information about their video’s content to help determine the age rating and advertiser friendliness of each video. Whereas the previous system relied entirely on YouTube’s blackbox algorithm to determine monetization, this new system gives creators more input, which is just the kind of creator-centric change YouTubers have been asking for. As one respondent told us, “anything that puts a little more power in the creator’s hands and reduces probability of algorithm error is a plus for me.”
Our respondents who’ve experienced self-certification all tell us that it’s a useful, positive change which rewards creators for being honest. Apollo Legend tells us “I’ve only posted a few videos under this new system but I think it’s a great idea. I hope this will end lots of monetization issues but even before this was rolled out I haven’t had a video demonetized in at least a year.” RogersBase concurred, saying “I noticed my ad revenue went up first thing. Because what they want to do with this new system is they want to encourage you to just not lie and not to upload clickbait and not to do things where they think it’s going to get YouTube as a company in trouble . . . The more you answer them honestly, and they notice that, like, advertisers are coming back and saying ‘oh, yeah, this is the right type of content to advertise on,’ they will then promote your videos to other advertisers.”
Whereas the previous system relied entirely on YouTube’s blackbox algorithm to determine monetization, this new system gives creators more input, which is just the kind of creator-centric change YouTubers have been asking for.
This system isn’t without its own share of problems, however. Some have been critical of its slow rollout, which gave self-certification privileges to only a few channels at a time. Popular YouTuber Saltydkdan took to Twitter to complain about the system’s rollout after his small side channel was given self-certification before his more profitable main channel. Many of the smaller YouTubers who don’t monetize their content told us that they weren’t aware that the system even existed. Mark Brown told us that he just got access to the system, but wasn’t sure exactly how it would affect his channel, saying “while I have used it (for example, I certified that my most recent video, on player feedback, includes some virtual violence) I’m not sure how that will work in the long run.” Red Bard was also concerned that YouTubers might get punished as being dishonest for simply misunderstanding YouTube’s guidelines, saying “I’d hate to see YouTubers, like, get punished for something that isn’t made entirely clear to them.” But, while there are indeed concerns and criticisms of the system, the vast majority of the response to this system has been positive.
Conclusion
Overall, our responses show an optimistic trend towards increased monetization and creator involvement, in no small part thanks to the self-certification system. However, lack of communication and clarity of guidelines is still a major issue for YouTubers who depend on the site for their livelihood. While the future looks bright, there are a number of steps YouTube still needs to make to decrease the uncertainty YouTubers feel towards monetization. In the meantime, it may be wise to follow some of the steps laid out in this article to decrease the risk of demonetization.
