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How we commit to responsibility

How does YouTube make money?

YouTube's main source of revenue is advertising. Additionally, we earn money from our monthly subscription businesses such as YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. We've also developed tools to help eligible creators earn money in a variety of other ways, such as Super Chat, channel memberships and merchandise. In most cases, creators and YouTube share revenue generated from these channels.

Sharing revenue

How does YouTube share advertising and subscription revenue with creators and artists?

The creator and artist experience is unique to each individual, which is why we offer a range of features, products and monetisation choices to help them run their channels and engage with their communities.

Creators who meet specific eligibility criteria, including minimum watch hours, subscriber count and adherence to community guidelines and monetisation policies, can apply to become a member of the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP). This programme gives them a source of income, empowering them to make careers out of doing what they love on YouTube.

Official Artists on YouTube run Official Artist Channels (OACs), which are approved by YouTube based on specific criteria. OACs are eligible for monetisation as well.

YouTube's main source of revenue is advertising, which enables businesses to find relevant audiences and grow their businesses and brands.

We share advertising revenue with eligible creators who are part of the YPP as well as with OACs as per our advertiser-friendly content guidelines.

We also earn money from our monthly subscription businesses such as YouTube Premium. With YouTube Premium, members can enjoy any video on YouTube without ads while still supporting creators and artists. Currently, revenue from YouTube Premium membership fees is distributed to creators and artists based on how much of their content members watch.

How does YouTube ensure creator success while ensuring that ads run only on quality content?

Over the last few years, we’ve taken steps to strengthen our requirements for monetisation via ads to reward only the most trusted Creators making original content.

However, advertising is not the only way for creators to earn money on YouTube. We're always trying to help creators share their stories, deepen relationships with their fans and earn additional money. Over the last few years, we've developed and released several tools to help eligible creators who are a part of YPP find additional ways to make money such as Super Chat and channel memberships. As with advertising, creators and YouTube share revenue from these products.

Isn't YouTube incentivised to promote controversial content to increase watch time and earn revenue?

Responsibility – not engagement – is our number-one focus and everything that we do is seen through that lens. Advertisers typically do not want to be associated with controversial or sensitive content on YouTube – as defined in our Advertiser-Friendly Content Guidelines. This content, while sometimes appropriate to remain on YouTube per our Community Guidelines, is not always appropriate for our advertisers. The downsides both from a user and a brand perspective drastically outweigh all other considerations.

How does YouTube support Australian creators?

The YouTube Partner Programme gives Australian creators the opportunity to monetise their content on YouTube, and in addition to this, we provide creators with access to a series of resources to further support them.

We run creator events across Australia that help creators to grow their audiences and build successful careers. These range from upskilling workshops and providing opportunities for creators to connect with brands, to providing wellness education and networking opportunities with industry professionals and leaders. We also partner with Changer Studios, who deliver free YouTube creator events, workshops, masterclasses and accelerators across Australia each year to help grow the next generation of creators.

Australian creators also have access to the YouTube Creator Academy. Whether they are just starting out and want to learn the basics, or are more established and are looking for ways to optimise their channel or unlock additional revenue streams, the Creator Academy provides free online education courses to support them on their journey.

How does YouTube support the wider Australian content industry?

We invest in the Australian content ecosystem, supporting Australian content creators with funding through programmes such as Skip Ahead, a partnership with Screen Australia, and also by connecting them to original content opportunities, like YouTube Originals, that help to export Aussie culture to the world. By collaborating with government agencies, tertiary education bodies and other key industry figures, our creative initiatives are bringing the next generation of Australian creators together with the experts who can help them forge successful careers in an ever-changing industry.

We are also passionate about supporting the Australian music industry and have partnerships with every major record label, as well as hundreds of collecting societies, including APRA AMCOS, independent labels and music publishers, to help artists succeed on YouTube and on our music subscription service, YouTube Music. Through licensing agreements with partners, and revenue sharing tools offered on YouTube, rightsholders can earn revenue when fans visit YouTube to watch their favourite music videos.

In 2019, YouTube partnered with the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) to celebrate Australian music, culminating in the 2019 ARIA Awards, which were live streamed internationally on YouTube and promoted across YouTube Music's global social media channels.

What controls does YouTube give advertisers to prevent their ads from appearing against inappropriate content?

In addition to our advertiser-friendly content guidelines, YouTube provides measures to help advertisers prevent their ads from appearing against content that advertisers may consider inappropriate. Specifically, our Video Ad Safety Promise is that certain types of content can't be monetised for ads on YouTube and Google video partners – we'll automatically apply exclusions to prevent ads from being shown on the most controversial content, such as terrorist acts, nudity and recent sensitive events.

There are content exclusion settings – inventory types, content types and digital content labels – that are meant to give advertisers additional control and help exclude types of content that, while in compliance with our policies, may not fit a brand or business.