YouTube movies with robust profanity within the first seven seconds (phrases like “fuck”) at the moment are eligible for full monetization, in line with a video from Conor, YouTube’s head of monetization coverage expertise. Beforehand, these sorts of movies had been solely eligible for “limited ad revenue.”
Adjustments to YouTube’s inappropriate language insurance policies have lengthy been a sore spot for creators. In November 2022, the corporate started to doubtlessly restrict advert income if profanity was used within the first 8–15 seconds of a video. ProZD, whose actual title is SungWon Cho, printed a video the place, after ready 15 seconds, he referred to as the coverage change “the dumbest fucking shit I’ve ever heard.” (He later stated that the video was demonetized.) YouTube adjusted its insurance policies in March 2023, together with permitting movies with profanity within the first 8–15 seconds to be eligible for advert income.
I requested ProZD his ideas about Tuesday’s change. “It’s about fucking time.”
The corporate initially restricted monetization for movies with swearing initially of movies to “align with broadcast requirements,” Conor says. “Advertisers anticipated advertisements on YouTube to have distance between profanity and the advert that simply served.” Nevertheless, “these expectations have modified,” he says, “and advertisers have already got the power to focus on content material to their desired degree of profanity.”
Whereas the one particular instance of “robust” profanity Conor offers is “fuck” — he says that YouTube defines “average profanity” as phrases like “asshole” or “bitch” — “you get the concept,” he says.
YouTube will proceed to restrict monetization should you use average or robust profanity in titles or thumbnails. Movies with a “excessive frequency” of robust profanity are additionally nonetheless a “violation” of YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content material pointers, Conor says. “You need to choose and select your fucks rigorously.”