YouTube blocks ads from channels with fewer than 10,000 views

Move comes amid backlash from advertisers over the placement of ads on objectionable videos

YouTube said Thursday that video channels on its site must now have more than 10,000 total views before the company will place ads on their videos, a major shift in policy the company said is designed to punish rule breakers.

The move by YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, comes amid a backlash from advertisers over the company’s placement of ads on objectionable videos. The change is likely to reassure some advertisers, though it could also upset many of its millions of creators.

YouTube wouldn’t specify how many accounts would be affected by the change. Internet-data firm Pex estimates that 164.5 million, or 88% of all YouTube channels, have cumulative views each under 10,000. But those channels represent just 5% of the 13.2 trillion views on YouTube all time.

YouTube said the policy has been in the works since November and is designed to block channels that steal others’ content for revenue.

The company has long allowed all video creators to apply to run ads on their videos, and many typically were approved.

The open policy enabled advertisers to reach users on little-visited corners of the internet, while amateur video creators could earn a few dollars by posting their projects on YouTube. In some cases, YouTube has also given rise to full-fledged stars who can earn seven-figure salaries each year.

But that system also caused some ads to appear alongside objectionable material, such as videos supporting terrorists or touting racist messages. After news outlets highlighted such cases in recent weeks, some big advertisers reduced or pulled their spending from YouTube and the company promised changes to better police content and give marketers more transparency and control.

By focusing on accounts with more than 10,000 total views, YouTube said it can better vet accounts to see if they are appropriate for advertising.

“This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel,” the company said in a blog post. “It also allows us to confirm if a channel is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies.”

The new limit “will help ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules.”

YouTube said once an account surpasses 10,000 views, the company would review the account’s content to determine if it qualifies for advertising.

YouTube said the move is designed to crack down on so-called impersonators that re-upload videos posted by others. The company said it recently made it easier to report such accounts, and has since removed hundreds of thousands of channels as a result.

The new policy is also likely to block ads from some objectionable content, but the 10,000-view threshold is so low that many unsavory videos alone have amassed hundreds of thousands of views, including two videos with ads from major brands that included the racist slur “n-----” in the title and dubbed a racist song over footage of former First Lady Michelle Obama or Chicago rapper Chief Keef.

“I think it’s a very genius move by YouTube,” said Pex Chief Executive Rasty Turek. “They’ll cut off 88% of the channels, which mean maybe 88% of the problems, but only 5% of the traffic.”

The financial impact on individual YouTube creators is likely to be small; advertisers pay roughly $7 to $12 for 1,000 views—though sometimes much less or more depending on the circumstances—and creators split that revenue with YouTube.

Source: The Wall Street Journal