We spoke to a few Digital experts on the new terms of services for its content creators from June. YouTube can now monetise all content on its platform by placing advertisements not only on content created by creators who have not enrolled in their partner programme but also on content curated by YouTube. This will create a situation where the creators will not earn any revenue from the advertisements placed by YouTube.
Neena Dasgupta, CEO & Director at Zirca Digital Solutions.
All those who were not enrolled were anyways not getting any revenue, but now they have a much stronger reason to enrol. Since the new policy will allow YT to place ads on any content, it’s better to be a part of the partner program and make money from the ads running on your content than have ads run on your content and not make money. This will not only put money into the pockets of smaller creators, it will also, in the long run, push the boundary for better content.
Preetam Thingalaya – Director Of Media – Mirum India
I personally feel it’s a bit bias and unfair to the Non-YTPP content creator. There are so many content creators I personally know of, who are in this race of getting into the YTPP.
But this might not stop creators from creating and publishing their content, because if their content keeps appealing to their audiences they will eventually get there (YTPP).
However, for an advertiser – well “the ocean just got bigger and there are more fishes to catch”. This move will open a dam of available inventory on the platform. The bids will drop (Cost per View) and the available audience pool will just skyrocket. So, without getting into in detail about YT’s targeting, audience segmentation, in a nutshell – Cheaper inventory, higher number of audiences to showcase our ads and eventually higher spends on YT.
Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder & Director, SoCheers
YouTube is monetising its might. YouTube provides creators with a viewer base which is unmatched. It has the most used search engine on the internet after Google. Creators moving out or considering other platforms will happen only if their earnings drop significantly. It is unlikely to be a reason a new creator will not use YouTube. Other platforms will observe and amend their revenue sharing arrangements in due course after watching the response to this.
Ambika Sharma, Founder & MD, Pulp Strategy
YouTube announced its right to monetize all content on its platform, creating quite the flutter. It is a big change and not everyone is happy. To quote YouTube, “starting today, we will begin slowly rolling out ads on a limited number of videos from channels not in YPP’’. This means as a creator that’s not in YPP, you may see ads on some of your videos. Since you are not currently in YPP, you won’t receive a share of the revenue from these ads, though you’ll still have the opportunity to apply for YPP as you normally would once you meet the eligibility requirements.”
It means channels which did not want ads on their videos and are not part of the YouTube partner program will have ads served on their content anyway; however non YouTube partner channels will not get paid for ads on their content. It will miff content creators especially brands who are using free channels on YouTube. Now it seems YouTube is going to chuck in ads into their content whether they like it or not.
Many content creators like Artists, influencers & brands consciously choose not to put ads on their content so their fans and followers can view their content disruption-free. However, now they will not have that choice. On the other hand with advertising rates under strain YouTube has suddenly expanded its inventory and revenue. It also gives advertisers a bigger opportunity to reach their audiences.
Sudish Balan, Chief Business Officer, Tonic Worldwide
The change in policy is not just going to affect creators who are not on the YouTube Partners Program, but it will also see a DRAMATIC drop in revenue for creators in the YPP program. Because YouTube will prefer to exhaust their ad inventories on non-partners videos and save on commission/royalty that they have to payout. Non partner creators, will not only not get paid but also will not have any control over the type of ads that will be run on their content neither the duration of ads. This could lead to higher bounce rates. In hindsight, this was inevitable just like any other platform or service… If you are getting it for free, then you are the product!
