YouTube channels with over 4,000 hours of viewing time make money

YouTube is tightening its partner policies and increasing its requirements for channels/creators, forcing them to meet certain requirements in order to make money.

Effective immediately, to enable monetization (and include ads on videos), a YouTube channel must have more than 4,000 hours of video watch time in the previous 12 months and have at least 1,000 subscribers.

YouTube will also apply this mandatory policy to existing video channels from February 20, meaning channels that do not meet the requirements will not be able to make money.

From now on, video channels that want to register to make money must meet two conditions: have 1,000 followers and over 4,000 viewing hours. Photo: Getty Images.

YouTube has previously tightened its monetization policy, requiring channels to have more than 10,000 views. The new policy will undoubtedly make it harder for new or small channels to make money on the platform. YouTube says this is an important step to give them more time to monitor their platform and eliminate “bad behavior.”

“We came up with this new policy after extensive analysis and conversations with creators like you,” the company said in a blog post. “They allow us to significantly improve our ability to identify creators who contribute positively to the community, help increase their exposure, and avoid bad practices.”

Although not directly mentioning Logan Paul, YouTube did not forget to criticize him: "These higher standards help us prevent inappropriate videos from monetizing, thereby harming the public."

The new policy comes after Logan Paul, one of YouTube's most influential creators, livestreamed a dead body in Japan's Aokigahara Forest. Last week, YouTube removed him from its Google Preferred advertising program.

But this isn’t a new problem. Advertisers have been complaining for years about their content appearing in unwanted ways alongside less-appropriate content on YouTube. YouTube has faced at least two advertiser boycotts over the issue in the past year.

YouTube has repeatedly apologized and promised to fix the problem. They have offered a number of solutions, and this is one of them. Late last year, they demonetized a number of major YouTube channels with content aimed at children.

At the same time, the company also increased the number of moderators for videos in the Google Preferred program. Advertisers who participate in this program will not have to worry about their ads appearing on videos like Logan Paul's.