YouTube Requires Monetization To Include Patreon Links
YouTube is making things a bit more difficult for content creators that want to link to the popular funding website.
The relationship between the various platforms content creators use is a fickle thing. YouTube has muddied the waters ever so slightly with a new update that requires creators to activate YouTube's monetization system in order to add a link to Patreon within a video.
Reported by Waypoint, YouTube alleges that this move is meant to "curb abuse and does not affect current YouTube partners or existing end cards" as so put by a spokesperson. End cards or end screens are sections at the end of a YouTube video where creators can link to different external links or to other videos on their channel. The discovery of this new change wasn't immediately communicated to creators. Instead, it was pieced together as those affected started to notice the inability to add Patreon to the end cards in their vids and started to share their stories.
Many content creators on YouTube have had to modify the focal point of their funding because of YouTube really cracking down on the type of content that can be monetized. Thus, many have turned to Patreon support and regularly drop the support links in their often ad-free YouTube videos. Now, those users will not be able to promise an ad-free experience if they want to continue linking the Patreon in-video and will have to abide by YouTube's partner program. To be a part of the partner program, your channel must meet the minimum requirement of 10,000 total channel views. Once that is established, you'll be able to add the Patreon link back into your ad-flanked videos.
This could push creators to use other video platforms for their ad-free experiences but, it'll most likely result in more just modifying their approach on YouTube and explaining the shift to their respective audiences. YouTube has made a couple other changes that aren't quite as frustrating as this one.
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Shacknews
replyCharles Singletary posted a new article, YouTube Requires Monetization To Include Patreon Links
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That's what I want to know. So many of the channels I watch now link Patreon because Youtube started demonetizing their videos without reason in the last three or four months. Without Patreon they would be defunct; and without the Patreon link on the video, no doubt they would have fewer subscribers.
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I clicked through to the Waypoint article and apparently Danny O'Dwyer's No Clip series lost the ability to link at the end of the video (meaning they were demonitized).
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You can still do that yes.
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Having the link right in your video is a lot more likely to gain a click from a viewer as it is right there in your face and you can even fancy it up with a nice graphic or clip and message. Not everyone goes to the description.
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Mine didn't. Why would I have done that when I can put the link right in the video? Yes the link is in the description too, but I brought no attention to it. Also in this world of usability and shortening attention spans you want things to be as easy as possible for your potential customers, no?
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If youtube won't pay the video's creator via ad revenue then the creator has to appeal directly to the viewer. In that sense, the viewer is the creator's customer. We're not talking about people who post that one funny video of their kid falling down the stairs; we're talking about people who make a living creating videos that are watched on youtube. They need a reliable source of income if they're to continue investing their time and money into producing the show and lately youtube has been terrifically unreliable.
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Lol. I'm 45! ;-)
Only as old as you feel mate.
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Yes, but a button that appears in the video itself is obviously more likely to be clicked. And this change just happens to coincide with the announcement of Youtube's subscriber program, which allows users to pay creators through Youtube (obviously Youtube will take a cut just as Patreon does). I think Youtube will do everything it can to make its subscriber platform the preferred payment mechanism, which makes creators dependent on a service provider that has already proved less than cooperative.
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Ah: https://twitter.com/patrickklepek/status/913496617470308352
Though still not all fine.
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Happened to us a couple of weeks ago. It's not just patreon links its any website link. We've been linking to our website for years from our videos and suddenly that didn't work anymore. And I couldn't add links to new videos either.
Luckily you do not have to participate in the ad program you just need to apply for monetization eligibility. It took a few days for them to approve us and now its all good.
The super dumb part was that they didn't communicate this at all. You found out either by coincidence or accident like I did. And it caused a bit of trouble for me.
Considering how important a part of the service that is they really should have made a bigger deal about communicating it. -
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It makes sense because Youtube is launching its own subscriber function (i.e. they want the money that Patreon is getting).
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