Thank You Fullscreen
At the end of last month YouTube announced changes to their partner program, and as a result anyone with lass than 1,000 subs and 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months are losing monintization. This goes into effect February 20th. Also on that date my fullscreen contract will be terminated.
With that being said, nothing is going to change on the channel. Being such a small channel I never have made much money. Over the 3 years or so I’ve been part of the partner program and fullscreen I’ve made $8 and that’s thanks to fullscreen.
I also have to give fullscreen credit for how they have handled this whole thing, this really out of their hands and they have been nice enough to let me and others effected by this still have access to some of their tools. For me my most used tool is epidemic sound, which is were I get all the music I use in my videos. This has been a cost saver for me as a creator. For the views I normally get on a video the service would cost me around $15 a month. For fullscreen to continue to let creators who they will no longer make any money on after the 20th is extremely kind.
Now this isn’t another YouTube the company is being terrible and here’s why post, I already did one of those and you can check that out here. This post is to thank say thank you to fullscreen. They have been a grate MCM and have always been helpful when I’ve had issues with YouTube or with some tool on their site. I’ve learned how to be a better creator thanks to their tips and community. My channel only had 10 subs when I joined I’m now 332 strong and growing thanks to the fullscreen community. I truly feel that is fullscreen’s best tool, their community.
It was a post that Panser/ Tradechat made on her Facebook page now 3 years or so ago about fullscreen, so I have to thank her for that. I also want to thank pinsky for pretty much always being around in the community and being a face to a otherwise faceless company.
This isn’t really the end of anything really I will still have access to some of the fullscreen tools and access to the community. I just wont have a contract with them until I meet the the new guild lines for the YouTube creator program and reapply with fullscreen, which I will do the second I can. I just wanted to take a moment to thank them and making the upside down topsy turvy world of YouTube just a little bit of a better place.
My Thoughts on the Youtube Partner Program Changes
Late Tuesday night after I was done streaming, I started seeing things about changes to the Youtube Partner Program. Course this is never good and this was the worst change yet. The TLDR is in order to be a partner channel you will have to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watched minutes with in the last 12 months to be considered for the partner program and Im losing partner status sometime in February.
Wow where do I start with this… Well lets start at the start of the year with Logan Pulls controversy and Youtube taking actions agents him and saying they would be making some changes. This already signaled to me that wasn't going to be good for anyone. Now we know what changes they made and they make no sense. Mostly these new rules just punish smaller channels that you know don’t film dead body’s and are just trying to make a living.
Like I said before the new rules are 1,000 Subs and 4,000 watch minutes within 12 months. The second part of this is actually fine. On my channel im just shy of that watch minute requirement, but the 1,000 subs needed is just wrong. I think its a well known secret that youtube subscriptions mean nothing. I currently have about 330 subscribers to my channel and 86% of my views come from non subscribers and only 13% of my views come from subscribers. Now im just a very small channel but I watch a lot of big youtubers and I’ve herd similar things from them as well that most of their views also come from non subscribers.
I know why they put the subscriber numbers as a requirement, they need a way to let the advertisers know the audience size and its part of youtube algorithm. In reality though the number means nothing, watch minutes mean way more.
For me it has nothing to do with the money I already wasn’t making money since the last changes, and even before that I didn’t make much a few cents here maybe a dollar there. What it really is about them opening the program to just about everyone and then because of a few big youtubers and poorly placed ads now the small youtubers have to pay the price and have the rules changed from underneath them.
I know life isn’t fair but if I agreed to one set of rules and Youtube changes the rules after I think youtube should be stuck with me unless I brake that agreement. I feel its wrong that they are changing the rules, I feel the channels in the partner program should be grandfathered in. I also think they should drop the the subscription portion of the rules and have it be just the 4,000 watch minutes maybe even up it a bit. Though lets face it Im talking into the void of the internet and youtube isn’t going to listen unless its coming from one of its advertisers.
My Thoughts on Youtube Partner Changes
The other day Youtube announced that they will be using the requirements to their Youtube Partners program to 10,000 lifetime views. This means if your channel has 10,000 lifetime views then you can apply to the Partner Program and be able to monetize your videos. If you have less than 10,000 lifetime views Youtube will not put adds agents your channel and you can not monetize your videos.
This new rule will also apply to current Partners, like me. I know I among other smaller youtubers were probably freaking out. Cause when I saw this I went to my creators app to see what my lifetime views were and Im only at 6K. So as of the other day my videos no longer have ads on them.
My feeling about this is that it will be a discouraging for any real creator that wants to make videos and maybe get payed for them. Its even more discouraging for people who have been making something from the Partner Program. I also feel like the story of them doing this because copy righted content and other types of re uploads is kind of bull shit. They have tools to take stuff like that down and I have been part of the Partner Program for almost 2 years plus Im signed to a MCM (FullScreen) so if I was doing that kind of thing I would have been had my channel taken down long ago. I mean I get a copy right clam cause I laughed in one of my videos last month. I fought it and the claim was taken off but I’ve had other similar stuff happen and it didn't get taken back.
Truly for me the monetization was a show of progress of how far Ive come since I started long ago when I didn't make anything from the ads they placed on my channel. I will still make videos cause I love doing it and Ive always said I would do it even if I didn't make money from it, and let it be clear Ive never gotten a dime for any of the videos Ive made. My MCM requires I make $50 to get a pay out. But I still find this discouraging and I think their are others under 10K lifetime views that might feel discouraged as well.
I just wanted to vent about this, Im still going to make videos as I always have and on a lighter note I hit 300 subscribers last night so that brought a smile to my face.
