YouTube movies with sturdy profanity within the first seven seconds (phrases like “fuck”) are actually eligible for full monetization, in keeping with a video from Conor Kavanagh, YouTube’s head of monetization coverage expertise. Beforehand, these sorts of movies had been solely eligible for “restricted advert income.”
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 known 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 at the beginning of movies to “align with broadcast requirements,” Kavanagh says. “Advertisers anticipated adverts 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 flexibility to focus on content material to their desired stage of profanity.”
Whereas the one particular instance of “sturdy” profanity Kavanagh supplies 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 if you happen to use average or sturdy profanity in titles or thumbnails. Movies with a “excessive frequency” of sturdy profanity are additionally nonetheless a “violation” of YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content material pointers, Kavanagh says. “You need to choose and select your fucks rigorously.”