Youtube Monetization 2018 Youtube Hates the Small Youtuber?

Yesterday youtube announced a change and it has people freaking out. I thought I would take a little time to address this as on whatever platform you are on online there are always changes and there are always people freaking out.

What is the Change?

To allow a creator to be part of the partnership program, which allows you to be able to put adverts on your videos and hopefully generate a little revenue, they are adding some new requirements you need to meet. 

You already had to have had 10,000 channel views, now (as of the end of Feb) you will also need

1k Subscribers

and

4k HOURS of watch time over the past year

Does YouTube hate the little guy?

NO!

I understand why it can feel like that but these hurdles are actually in place to help us in the long term

Over time on any platform people try and learn how to 'game' the system, to try and get noticed, views, money, by using methods that are really against the spirit of the platform - or even hurt the platform

Youtube has been hurt quite alot in the past year by channels with not so nice content being shown next to advertisers or in the wrong places, this might have been controversial content  or also non age appropriate videos shown in child friendly areas.

And of course the Logan Paul thing - but this is really not what this change is about!

When people try and game the system in a way that makes advertisers unhappy then the advertisers pull out

and there is no money for anyone.

These Changes are a GOOD thing?

Strange to say it but yes I think they are

This weeds out the lazy people, the people who dont want to work to grow their channel, anyone who really wants to grow their own channel with good practises will be able to. It might take a little while, I believe most people who use good practises can have grown to this level within a year 

As you can see from my graph it can seem really difficult to build up in the beginning, but just like most things on the internet each new view/like/subscriber/sale makes the next one that bit easier. Growth tends to be exponential.

So anyone who really works and sticks with it, using good practises has a great chance of growing

And in a fit of great timing my good friend Brian G Johnston has just made a most useful video on strategies to boost your videos - the right way.