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There have recently been four exciting updates for YouTube creators that will make it easier for people to reach their target market, and to monetise their content. Any artist or creator who has made use of YouTube as a medium to share their work is well aware of the challenges that come along with utilising the platform. Aside from the need to produce the types of videos which your viewers have come to expect, creators must be constantly mindful of YouTube’s rules and regulations, as well as the ever-present threat of demonetisation. But for those YouTubers who continue to work through the struggles, there is now something to be excited about!
Some good news has been announced to the more than 50 million YouTube creators. The platform recently informed it’s users of four new features that will undoubtedly help to make their channels more successful, and reach a larger audience. With the recent change in policies, and increase in restrictions, the new enhancements are a positive sign for creators. In this article, we will explore these new features, and examine the ways in which they can assist creators in taking their channel to the next level…
Exciting Updates for YouTube Creators
Ability to monitor when viewers are online
First previewed in a special video on YouTube’s Creator Insider channel, this new feature is a significant advancement to YouTube’s analytic tools. This is an expansion of the basic demographic information that the platform already provides to creators. Data relating to age, gender, and geographical location has been available for years. This is the next step in the analytical development of the platform. Here are a few points to consider when making use of this new feature:
- The ability to monitor audience traffic provides a deeper level of understanding of the viewing habits of YouTube users. Knowing when the majority of your audience is online, and engaging with your videos, allows creators to schedule the posting of new creations much more effectively, in order to maximise initial viewership.
- While YouTube offers no guarantee that this additional information will directly increase viewership, effectively utilising this data makes it much more likely that creators will experience a noticeable boost in audience participation.
- Knowing when the majority of users are primarily on the platform can assist creators in better engaging their audience. Initial postings, live events, and group conversations via video comment sections can all be significantly impacted by the amount of online users at any given time.
- This feature is still in the early stages of development, and the initial roll-out is currently ongoing. YouTube has been fully transparent in the fact that they cannot yet be certain of the value of this information.
Enhancements to “hold inappropriate comments for review” section
YouTube has made available the option to “hold inappropriate comments for review” for quite some time. The new enhancement to this option will see it become the standard default setting. Creators will still have the option of turning this feature off if they wish, but will no longer be required to turn it on for each particular channel which they may operate. A few things to keep in mind regarding these enhancements are:
- Creators will no longer have to be concerned with viewers leaving comments that are offensive, disrespectful, or contain inappropriate language. All comments that include these types of statements will require the creator approval prior to appearing in the comment thread beneath the video.
- Creators who currently make use of this feature experienced a 75% decrease in “flagged” comments from other channels that leave the feature turned off. “Flagged” comments can quickly lead to posting reviews, and potential demonetisation.
- YouTube is currently working hard to expand the value of this feature to the platform. Within the past two years, the “hold inappropriate comments for review” feature has been enhanced and enlarged to incorporate 13 languages. The platform is also constantly working to improve the accuracy of the feature.
Ability to schedule community posts
This feature has recently been made “live” to all creators. However, it will not work through mobile applications, and is currently only available on the desktop web main application. A few aspects of this feature include:
- Using this feature affords creators the opportunity to produce community posts ahead of time, and then schedule a time and date for publishing at any point in the future.
- YouTube has added this feature to their platform as it has been an option very frequently requested by creators.
Incorporation of video chapters
This feature is in the final stages of development, and will be fully rolled out to all YouTube creators within the next few weeks. Utilising video chapters will allow creators the ability to “section” their posted videos into smaller sections. Several points to consider when making use of this new video chapter feature include:
- Viewers will be able to jump forward and backwards through the different “chapters” in each video. This can be of benefit in videos which provide information on several different topics.
- There are, however, several requirements for implementing these chapters. For example, there must be a minimum of three chapters, each being no less than 10 seconds long. Timestamps must also be added in each video’s description, with the first one beginning at “0:00.”
Updates for YouTube Creators: The Conclusion
Recently, YouTube has come under fire for changing many of their practices and policies, which has resulted in the demonetisation of many creators, channels and videos. These changes came as quite a surprise, as the majority of the creators affected have been making use of the platform for several years. These sudden and unexpected changes meant a significant loss in revenue for creators, as unintentional violations of the new policies saw that revenue diverted to YouTube, itself.
YouTube has been taking steps to increase the amount of “goodwill” shared between the platform, and it’s creators. These four most recent enhancements are but a small part of what the platform has planned for the coming months. These advancements are designed and intended to provide creators with more tools and opportunities to increase their earning potential. This is a sound strategy on the part of YouTube, because adding new revenue streams can soften the blow that comes from the removal of others…
