January YouTube Partner Monetization Changes May Equal DOOM For Us!

I recently received a very upsetting e-mail from my YouTube partner network RPM Networks. If you read the message in this e-mail, it will be very clear why this change may mean the demise of a lot of channels on YouTube who are under a network. Take in particular the text colored red.

Hello, Makers! YouTube is in the process of rolling out some updates to the partnership program. Since you’re part of the RPM Network family, we want to make sure you’re equipped to go full-speed on day one! We’ve prepared a summary of upcoming changes, plus a list of instructions on how to thrive in the updated ecosystem. Lastly, we’ll give you a sneak peek into how we’ll help you grow through the end of 2013. Let’s get right to it:  

BASICS 
First, your channel is still a member of RPM Network. This means that you will continue to receive the full spectrum of benefits associated with Maker’s partner program. This includes access to Maker Max, one-on-one channel development, and your dedicated support team.  

EARNINGS 
Beginning in early January, newly-uploaded videos will occasionally go through a process called monetization review. This review is performed by YouTube, and will determine if your content is in compliance with YouTube’s current terms of use and copyright standards. Once your content has been submitted, the approval process usually takes between a few hours to a few days. This system will be based on trust-algorithm, so the more often you’re approved, the less often you will be reviewed. We’ve included a how-to at the end of this email, which includes our suggested practices. Simply follow the guide, and you should not see any interruption in your earnings. We’re also extremely happy to hear that YouTube is making earnings transparency mandatory across all networks. As the first network to offer this information to all of its creators, we’ll continue to provide access to both your YouTube estimated earnings and income earned through participation in other Maker initiatives.  

LET’S TALK 
Your Contract with Maker: YouTube is introducing a module which lets you send us feedback regarding the status of your partnership. Some people are calling this the "unpartner button”. Maker does not use this feature for communication about its contracts and this button is not a legal notice. If you have questions about your contractual relationship with us, please continue to contact us as you usually do.  

COPYRIGHT 
As always, it’s your responsibility to only upload content that you own 100% of the rights to. Do not use footage from other sources including TV, movies, trailers, music videos, etc.  

CONCLUSION 
Being partnered with Maker as an Affiliate channel doesn’t change how we work with you in any way. We will still provide you with support, help increase viewership, and find ways to grow your brand and revenue. We know there can be confusion and sometimes frustration when new features and platform changes roll out, but we’re here to help, answer any questions you might have, and figure out how to make these changes work to your advantage. Things like monetization review are designed to prevent your channel from getting arbitrary content and community strikes; the feedback module is designed to help YouTube channels who are working with unresponsive and non-transparent networks. None of the features are designed to hurt your channel or your content, and Maker is excited to work with all of our partners on each new development as they roll out.  

Guides How-to: Monetization: 
1. Begin the upload process a few days before the scheduled release 
2. Before the upload process is complete, set the video to UNLISTED 
3. You may apply for monetization through your video manager, on a per-upload basis. First, refer to YouTube’s policy on what is and is not monetizable: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/97527?hl=en&ref_topic=1115890 
If you are confident that your video is eligible for monetization, you may follow the below instructions on how to submit your content for monetization review: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/94522?hl=en&ref_topic=1115890 
4. Once monetization is approved, release your video on-schedule 
NOTE: Setting a public video back to unlisted or private will cause the video to disappear from subscriber feeds permanently, so be careful!

If you haven't gotten the clue yet, it's the way YouTube will be forcing some sort of manual review on all newly uploaded videos to confirm their eligibility for monetization. Right now the process they use is instant if you're under a network. The exception is when the actual copyright holder comes after your videos—they will place a Content ID claim and/or copyright strike and the videos will not able to earn any money through ads.

Of course, YouTube now wants to push this review to occur on all channels, including channels that are part of a network.  

What appears to be human review of videos likely means 100% more strict policies. We all know that YouTube doesn't really like gameplay videos and especially ones with no commentary. Right now as network partners, we can post gameplay without commentary, have it instantly monetized and it will fly pass the radar no problem, unless the video game company comes after us.

Even for the people who incorporates commentaries in their gameplay videos, YouTube can very likely disable monetization as well, deeming them "not original enough". In fact, it clearly states in their support guide that "Videos simply showing game play for extended periods of time may not be accepted for monetization.". Commentary or not.

In the worst case scenario, YouTube will begin to review all these gameplay videos and punish them with the inability for monetization. That means, absolutely no earnings for the content creator. With no earnings, the content creator will have less of an incentive to create content. Also, a lot of people (including myself) depend on the earnings from our videos to fund the games and capture equipment we showcase on our channel. This may then eventually lead to an utter death and withdrawal from YouTube completely.

This is bad. I don't know what to feel right now, but I will be quite sad if I lose my ability to monetize my videos. I can't say what is going to happen, but regardless of the consequences, I will try my best to continue to upload videos for you guys, so long as they don't get Content ID match and copyright strikes all over. I've been uploading videos without monetization for years until now, after all. However, the amount of videos will be definitely be cut back by a lot.

If YouTube forces us to incorporate commentaries into our gameplay videos for monetization (and not just saying stuff at the beginning and turning off the mic), I think I'll pass. I'm sure you guys don't want me spewing my mouth nonstop on every video. That's just not me and the channel you know.

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Google+ YouTube Comments - Why People Are Overeacting

It seems everybody nowadays are severely resistant against any change, regardless of any positive or negative impact it may cause. I'm sure you can somewhat relate, as nobody likes it when they are finally accustomed to something, then have it abruptly change in front of their eyes. Then again, YouTube is no newbie to this, as they are the culprit to changing and screwing around with their site hundreds of times.

Google+ rolling out their "better" commenting system caused one of the most massive outrage on the internet, even potentially surpassing the outrage caused by the very first 2.0 channel layout back in 2009. It also spawned numerous petitions on change.org, garnering over 50,000 signatures to revert back to the way things were.

Honestly, I really don't think it's as bad as people are making it out to be. Call me crazy and hammer me on the head, but I actually like a lot of the new features and improved convenience of the new comments system. However, that doesn't mean its without its flaws. At the moment, if Google would iron out the bugs and possibly squash the enforcement of Google+, I truly think the new system would be mostly favorable compared to the old system.

Here's why:

Pros of the new comments system:

* Unlimited character length - One of the most annoying nuisances with the old comments was the maximum 500 character limit, which caused many people to break their long comments into many separate comments. Thus, this causes more comments posted than necessary and additionally increased confusion amongst viewers.
* HTML links allowed and clickable - If you didn't recall, the old comments didn't allow any sort of HTML links embedded. This was I believe due to Google enforcing anti-spam measures to protect comments from spammers. For the users ourselves, this is sort of a double edged sword—we can finally post HTML links in comments, but we are now more susceptible to spam. Nevertheless, I think the former outweighs the latter. As the manager of comments ourselves, we can safely block or delete all the nasty spam.
* Threaded replies - When people reply to comments, you can now much more easily see all the replies as they are correctly lay out and indented from the post being replied to. This is similar to how old comments used to work, until Google somehow screwed it up some time ago.
* Editing comments - All new comments can be edited infinitely, from changing a small typo to completing changing the contents. I'm not sure how I positively feel about this, as it could definitely cause increased fraud—where one user can say something, then turn around to say something else.
* Comments notifications - Albeit losing the YouTube Inbox completely for comments, the new notification system allows quick and easy access to new activities on your channel, including new comments posted to your videos. Better yet, you can check comments and even reply to them without leaving the page you're on (e.g. you can watch a video while checking and replying to comments at the same time).

Cons of the new comments system:

* Google+ enforcement - Of course, one of the most leading cons of the new comments system is Google's requirement of owning or creating a Google+ profile/page in order to post comments. Whether you think Google is secretly doing this to push popularity of their social networking service, you have to agree that nobody likes to be forced to use a separate service to be able to have a convenience such as posting comments. This is especially valid if one doesn't even need it.
* Top comments - By top comments, Google somehow has failed miserably in delivering what they are indicating. Instead of top comments, we get comments from Google+ circles and then the bulk of the rest hidden deemed to spam (even though the majority of them are NOT). There is also no way to automatically adjust comments to show newest only instead of top comments. This is by far the biggest issue of the bunch, making even popular YouTubers such as ashens disabling comments and directing viewers to another site to comment. Now that's just ludicrous.
* Unlimited character length and HTML links - Yes, two of the pros are also two of the cons. Unlimited character length encourages users to spam long, useless comments like the internet trolls they are, including stupid ASCII art—in which we thought we had forgotten about in the early 2000s. HTML links can cause innocent viewers to go to an obscene or offensive site. All of these are happening in abundance everywhere on the site right now. Regardless, I'm sure as time moves on, the internet trolls will become bored of this passion and we may hopefully receive more normality in comments.
* Inability to reply to old comments -  For some odd reason, Google decided that comments posted prior to the new comments system taking place can no longer be replied to, even if they are a couple hours old. It could be quite simple to update old comments to work with the new system, but being the fools they are, Google has decided old comments must be stuck in stone for eternity. Nice...

Okay, here is the biggest question people may ask if they are still on the fence about joining Google+ with their YouTube:

Will my privacy be preserved and will I be able to hide my real name to the public?

YES! Google grants you several options when you proceed to connect your YouTube account to a Google+ account. Of course, you can choose to have it be connected to your user profile account with you real name, but you have an option to keep your YouTube username or enter a new name.

When you pick "keep your YouTube username", all it does is create an additional page under your main Google+ user profile account with that name. Hence, the two are still intertwined. However, there is no way for someone to locate and find your Google+ user profile account by just looking at your YouTube Google+ page.

Perhaps the most favorable bit of connecting your YouTube account to a Google+ page is being able to edit your username as often as you like—opposed to your user profile, which you can only change the name every 3 years or so.

See the video below for more details:

Summary:

People really need to give the new comments system a try before they bash it with full on negativity. I for one am getting dreary of all the recent comments on every video bashing it, when they should be focusing on the video contents instead.

Yes, there are some major cons as aforementioned, but the way people are reacting to it now is senseless. They only cry about how bad it is, how it ruins their privacy (when it doesn't) and how they desire the old system back. When instead, they should be giving proper feedback with good etiquette in order to improve it. Even if individuals despise it solely because they're forced to use Google+, why not just leave their Google+ alone and they won't ever have to see it again? And honestly, do they really think Google will actually revert back to their old comments system? Haven't anyone ever heard about what happened to all the changes many years ago, where no matter of how many petitions and backlash, Google kept what they invented?

I'm not defending Google nor am I hating on them either. They did something that could have good potential with the comments system—they only need to iron out the bugs, since the Google+ aspect is pretty much ultimately set in stone.

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Getting a large HDTV? Always Get It Inspected Before Signing!

Yesterday a bit of me inside was horrifically tarnished, so much that today I can barely concentrate.

I'm posting this so if you're captured in the same instance as I was, you won't be making the same mistake.

You see, yesterday I finally received my 50" Toshiba HDTV (50L1350U) shipped from Amazon. I wanted to upgrade from my 37" Protron set that was inexplicably experiencing hardware issues, from malfunctioning buttons, burn in and static noises.

Whenever Amazon or another retailer ships out TVs 46" or larger, or large furniture and appliances, they'll almost always transfer it over via a freight delivery company (e.g. CEVA Logistics, Pilot, Eagle, etc.). Mine was done with CEVA Logistics. Interestingly, I have never heard or dealt with this company before in my life. I later found out that it was essentially a delivery service that included "White Glove service", i.e. they'll be offering extra convenience services such as hauling the large item to a room of destination in your house. If it's a television set, they'll offer to unpack the box, set the TV up, check for damages and see if it's working.

Take note of the bold text. This was the reason for the illness of this post—don't ever accept and sign for a delivery of a TV or other large item without inspecting it for damage! As it unfortunately turns out, I didn't and the TV had large cracks on the screen when I unboxed it, rendering it basically a paper weight.

If ever there occurs damages or defects during the inspection process, refuse delivery and contact the retailer where you purchased it from. If they want to stay in business, they'll offer to refund or replace it for free.

I was so scared of not being able to return or exchange the TV, as I clearly signed the paper work that indicated it was in GOOD condition. Fortunately, since Amazon had great customer service, I called them up the day after and they had no issues setting up a refund. It would be completely disastrous if I would lose $700 for nothing!

So you're probably asking, why did he sign for delivery without prior inspection for damages and defects? It was because the box looked to be in great condition with no physical damages, so I thought nothing could be wrong (guess again!). I additionally didn't feel safe letting a sole stranger in my house, handling the new equipment and potentially damaging something. He was also alone when it clearly states there should be at least two delivery men for the service.

Anyways, consider this a lesson learned. Since Amazon no longer has the TV in stock, I have to wait at least 2 or more weeks to get a refund and buy from somewhere else like Best Buy. I was really looking forward to this TV too, as the reviews on it have been superb! D:

I also have to say CEVA failed to impress me and I would not like to deal with them again. Not only did they miss my initial delivery appointment and refused to call me prior to actual delivery, I believe they were the ones who damaged the TV. I mean, the bottom of the box was even opened for no reason.

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Remembering the YouTube Times

In celebration, or dis-celebration of almost nearly 2 months of YouTube's "One Channel", I decided to look back in the past and see how much YouTube has completely dis-evolved in 7 years.

2006-2009

YouTube's first channel layout. The design is plain and simple, yet it worked. Navigation was super easy and effective. Everything including full profile, featured video, activity feed, uploads (which was entirely customizable), playlists (also customizable), friends, subscriptions, subscribers and comments are all in one single page. You didn't have to click multiple times to get to see the content you wanted to see. Bulletins and special videos section are also great.

Background and all the colors of the channel can be altered, and full transparency of all sections were available so your background could pop out.

This is highly regarded as YouTube's best channel layout by the majority of YouTubers.

 

2009-2011 "Version 2.0"

 

YouTube's first channel layout change. This is probably the most highly criticized action YouTube made by the public, and rightfully so. Thousands upon thousands of comments were posted on YouTube's forums and videos, and 99% of them were against it.

What's wrong with it?

First off, the organization and placements of sections are completely clumsy. User profile has been pushed down the page into semi-obscurity, and the featured video and its player is now always on top. The new channel video player has the ability to play all videos without having to leave the channel. I find this feature actually useful and nice, but a heft of options are disintegrated when playing videos using this method: viewing full sized, leaving and viewing comments and exploring related/recommended videos. To be able to access and do any of these, you would have to click to view the video in its original video page (which a lot of people will be too lazy to do). In the end, this punishes the channel owner the most, and would make views and comments diminish greatly. Somewhat good for the viewer, bad for the uploader.

The video sidebar, is the only place where you can store your playlists, favorites and uploads. You can no longer see all of them at once, requiring multiple clicks. Also, there's finger numbing scrolling you have to do to go through the videos since the sidebar is tiny. Bugs even makes it worse—sometimes it forgets where you were at during scrolling and you have to start scrolling over again from the beginning. Arrghh...

The design was also ugly.

I did appreciate the ability to watch videos on the channel without leaving the page, but there's simply too many bad implementations and design choices. It's still better than the next one though, which is even worse...

2011-2013 "Cosmic Panda"

Here is where customization and personalization really took a dive into non-existence. In cosmic panda, the default and only theme you could choose from was a plain looking gray/white appearance. Coupled with the removed ability to set transparency on anything, everyone's channels look exactly the same, besides the background. Speaking of the background, since the main gray/white content took over 90% of the display estate, the background can hardly be seen by most users. So why even bother?

Content is now even more separated into different pages, and some don't even make a lick of sense. To be able to view a person's channel comments, one would to click on "Browse Video" and then click on "Comments". Say, what does channel comments have to anything to do with browsing videos again, Einstein?

Mentioning channel comments, YouTube now cuts off comments after a certain period of time. So you can no longer view older comments at all, not even if you are channel owner. BS.

The ability to watch any videos without leaving the channel is now gone. That's funny, I thought they believed that was one of the greatest features and advertised so much out of it. Now they removed it entirely? But that's how the upgrade downgrade process on YouTube works, incorporate a feature that's remotely useful and then remove it for no reason on the next iteration.

The only thing I like about the new channel layout is that video thumbnails are very large. So it's easier for viewers to see them. Other than that, the previous two layouts were much superior.

2013-???? "One Channel"

 

A few months ago, YouTube decided it was going to change its homepage layout for the 63 gazillion time, going from a fairly graphical multi-grayscale layout to one so white it would give snow a run for its money. The most noteworthy bit of this change was the new sidebar, which YouTube claims allows a user to instantly see all of their subscribers activity and uploads on any page with a single click. I honestly could care less about it, especially since the new layout made my eyes bled with it having so much empty white space everywhere.

With this one feature in mind, they thought it was so radical and so crucial that channels must have it too! And being the brilliant minded folks they are, instead of just simply attaching the sidebar to the current channel layout, they went with yet again an all out entirely new layout. Remember, a new layout from YouTube means a POS layout that's another step worse than the previous.

Thus, the ugly duckling "One Channel" was born.

I don't think I even need to do much explanation on this layout as it's been forced down everybody's throat now for months.

Devolution is right.

So, what is your favorite and worst YouTube channel layout?

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My Nuisances with RPM Networks

I joined RPM Networks via ProLax (recruiter) in late December. I have owned my YouTube channel for 5 years now and never really thought about becoming a partner and monetizing my videos. That's purely because becoming a partner was much stricter back then, and there were no such things as YouTube Networks as there are now. You had to develop 100% original content, or if your videos are solely gameplay footage, you had to had commentary on all of them. Even if all the above applies, YouTube are notorious for rejecting channels with limited reasons as to why, regardless if they have a heavy amount of subscribers and views or not.

Being the uninformed fool I am, I continue to maintain a regular old YouTube channel until finally last December. That's when I ultimately heard about YouTube Networks, and how they are pretty much accepting virtually anybody without bearing YouTube's strict requirements. Partnering with a network instead of directly with YouTube isn't different at all, depending on who you partner with. With most, you'll obtain all the partner features YouTube offers, the ability to monetize all your videos and more importantly being able to have complete creative control over your channel and its contents.

As a matter of fact, I already had a slew of networks offering me partnership in my YouTube message inbox. I read all of them, read up on their offerings and terms of service. There were a lot of good ones and ones with deceptive messages that makes you think you'll be earning huge money with them. In the end, I went with ProLax. Their message to me was simple to understand and it offered everything I wanted. Thus, I applied to them on around December 20th. I had to sign a contract that would require me to be a part of this Network for at least a year and we agreed on a 60/40 revenue split. Within a week later, I had all my partnership features and was then seeing my earnings on YouTube itself.

As it turns out, I was signed to RPM Networks and not ProLax. ProLax was just one of RPM's many recruiters such as SocialBlade. I actually should've applied through SocialBlade instead, because I would have had the bonus addition of being advertised on their website. With ProLax, I did not get anything extra besides one mention of me in their YouTube channel. Oh well…

I have to say that after being with RPM Networks for 7 months now, there has been some ups and downs. I'm earning very good consistent money with them and they pay on time, but I have to highly stress on how TERRIBLE their customer support is. One of the worst of all companies I had the displeasure of dealing with.

They don't respond to customers in a timely fashion at all. I had an issue with YouTube estimated earnings in my analytics disappearing abruptly for a few days. I sent them a message about it on the day it occurred, but they did not answer me back until a week later, when the problem was already fixed by itself. This is quite deceiving as they clearly stated all messages would be responded to in 24-48 hours. Another time I could not log into my dashboard at their website—actually, I was never able to log into it since the beginning of my partnership. I sent them a message about it on Twitter, yet they fail to ever respond to it. I had to send them another e-mail about why I couldn't log into my dashboard and a week later, I finally got an answer saying they will forward my account to get it dashboard access. It's been a few days following that and I still have no access to my dashboard. Grrr…

So in summary, if you want a good Network to join that grants you the full grid of YouTube partner features with high and unrestricted CPM, RPM Networks is great. If you want good, fast and responsive customer support, just simply stay away. And it's not just me either that are having dilemmas with their customer support, just read all the reviews of RPM Networks around on the internet.

I'm contemplating on switching to TGN (The Gamer Nation) when my contract with RPM Networks expires. However, RPM Networks may be moving me up to their supposedly much better TGS Network.  Only time well tell...

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