How to Make Money on Youtube Without Monetization

What's up, creators! Like you, I'm committed to growing my channel, helping people and making money on YouTube. Let's do this!

What do you need to do for YouTube to monetize your channel?

YouTube doesn't really need an introduction. You know what it is, and you know what a big deal it is in the everyday lives of millions of people around the world.

But many YouTube fans aren't just watching these interesting, informative, and entertaining videos for hours on end—we're creating them too! And a lot of us are trying to make real money with our video content—and not just #beermoney, but rent money and new car money, too.

A few years ago, just about anyone could qualify to have Google ads placed on their videos and make a few bucks on their YouTube channel. Even amateur vloggers with a few dozen subs had a real shot at making money online.

But eventually, YouTube began to require certain qualifications for monetization. In 2017, you needed 10,000-lifetime views to qualify for their ad partner program.

And then last year (2018) it changed again, and creators now need to have at least 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 hours of watch time over a rolling 365-day period.

This came as a blow to many video creators who had their hopes up to make money on YouTube in 2019. Now the bar has been raised that much higher, and many are discouraged about the additional time and effort it will require to qualify.

But some creators—perhaps some of you reading this article right now—have hustled hard to grow your channel, have reached the new standards, and have submitted your request to join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) and start making money.

You've been waiting and waiting for approval, but you haven't heard anything from YouTube's monetization team yet. The days turned into weeks, and now you might have been waiting for a few months.

How long does it take to get approved for YouTube monetization?

When will your YouTube channel get monetized?

Pop Quiz!

For each question, choose the best answer. The answer key is below.

1. Which of the following strategies will grow your YouTube channel fast and get ad approval?
   • comment "sub4sub" on 100 other YouTubers' videos daily
   • buy traffic and likes on Fiverr
   • join Facebook and Reddit groups and trade likes for likes
   • subscribe to 100 channels/day and then unsub after they sub back
   • copy popular YouTube videos and TV shows and post them on your channel
   • none of the above

Answer Key

1. none of the above

Interpreting Your Score

If you got 0 correct answers: WAKE UP CALL. You're a spammer. YouTube basically hates you, and your channel will probably get deleted pretty soon. If you want to make money on YouTube, you should immediately stop trying to cheat the system and just grow your channel the right way.

If you got 1 correct answer: Awesome! You are NOT a spammer! Keep producing awesome content and growing your channel the right way - without inflating your stats through artificial hacks - and you'll be on your way to YouTube success!

Now, there are tons of YouTubers trying to get monetized, so it's not surprising that the staff at YouTube might simply be swamped with requests. So it just might take a while for some to get approved.

But some of you will probably never get approved until you make big changes to your content and to your entire approach to making money on YouTube.

So here are six big reasons why your YouTube channel might never get monetized. Are you making any of these common YouTuber mistakes?

Read More From Toughnickel

1. Your Channel Doesn't Meet the Current Criteria

First of all, let's make sure that you really understand the current YPP monetization requirements. As of this writing, there are two:

1. 1,000 subscribers
2. 4,000 hours of watch time in the past 365 days

The 1,000 subscribers is pretty difficult to misunderstand—though there might be some snags that will cause you problems (see below). But for the most part, either you have 1,000 subs or you don't.

If you've submitted your YPP request before hitting that number, it's unlikely that you will be approved quickly. In fact, it's possible that your request could be rejected and then you'd have to resubmit and wait through the whole process all over again.

So it's probably best to just be patient and wait until you hit 1,000 before trying to get monetized.

The part where some YouTubers get mixed up is with the 4,000 hours of watch time.

That is 240,000 minutes of watch-time over the past 365 days. It is not lifetime minutes of watch time. It covers a rolling period of the past 365 days.

If you use YouTube analytics on your desktop, or even just on the YouTube Creator Studio app on your smartphone, you can filter your watch time stats over the past 365 days to see if you've hit the 240,000 minutes target or not.

Now, don't just stop putting out videos once you hit that number and apply for YPP monetization. Keep posting videos. Keep promoting and sharing your content. Make it easy for YouTube to recognize that your channel is legit and is still growing.

If you've hit the 4,000-hour mark and have been approved, can you lose your monetization status if your watch time dips back below the minimum requirement or if your subscriber count drops back below 1,000 subs? That's a good question too, and thankfully YouTube has already answered it with an official, "Nope."

2. Your Content Is Not Original

Another problem area that is rampant on YouTube—and on the internet in general—is the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. You've likely seen tons of YouTube channels out there that upload video clips of TV shows, movies, business conferences, and other content that someone else created.

Maybe you do that yourself.

Many creators are under the impression that all they have to do is include a Fair Use Act disclaimer in the video description or in the comments section, and all is good.

But all is not good.

YouTube: Fair Use Act

Chris Desatoff

The Fair Use Act

The Fair Use Act is commonly misunderstood and misused all the time on YouTube. You can't just put up a clip of someone else's video and make money from it. In fact, monetization has nothing to do with it at all. Monetized or not, that content is not yours to upload without the owner's permission.

You are literally stealing people's content.

The Fair Use Act does generally allow for video creators to use clips of video content for purposes of commentary. This is what you might see on a TV news channel or a YouTube channel that uses a short clip of someone's video and then spends a few minutes talking about it.

But putting up someone else's video without a huge amount of your own original commentary isn't going to cut it.

The owners of that content might not be pursuing every offender right now, but if they decide to start suing YouTube and Google for allowing it to happen, they will likely win the case or win a settlement out of court. That would be a huge financial loss for YouTube and Google, so that's why they are tightening up their restrictions against such channels.

Gaming Content

And the same goes with gaming content.

Technically, screen captures of live video play is trademarked material, and video game companies can sue YouTube and individual creators at any time for unauthorized use. Nintendo has actually done this, or at least threatened to, and so YouTube seems to be more hesitant to approve new gaming channels for monetization than in the past.

Gaming is a very controversial area of the web right now because of these messy legal questions, and I've seen many recent comments from small gaming channels who've had their YPP applications denied over this issue.

It's frustrating because you see many larger gaming channels that are still monetized, so there's no consistent enforcement here at this time.

But it seems that if YouTube wants to avoid lawsuits going forward, it might have to start denying monetization for gaming channels who upload screen captures without consent from the game developers.

Some game developers explicitly allow YouTubers to make videos of their games, so hopefully we'll see more of these companies proactively supporting the gaming community in the future. But for now, it's a gray area that could lead to YPP problems and demonetization.

3. You Buy Followers and Sub4Sub

For those who don't know, subscribing to other YouTubers in exchange for them subscribing back to you—or with the intention of them subbing back out of courtesy—is a practice known as sub4sub.

It's not new.

Also called followback or follow/unfollow, it's been one of the most popular and most abused methods for growing accounts across all social media platforms for the past several years.

And YouTubers do it all the time, thinking that it's a legit way to grow a channel and qualify for Google ads.

In reality, sub4sub is a blatant violation of YouTube's terms of service (TOS). That means that when YouTube catches you participating in sub4sub, you won't get monetized (or your YouTube channel will get demonetized). You will get a TOS strike against your account. And you might even get your account closed immediately.

So don't do sub4sub.

Don't participate in Facebook groups or forum groups where creators agree to sub to each other and stuff like that either.

If the only reason a group like this exists on social media is to boost each other's stats, then you're walking on thin ice and could eventually get shut down and lose your account, even if you have great content and tons of legit subs.

You also aren't allowed to buy subscribers. This is explicitly against the rules too. Basically, any method that artificially inflates your subscriber count is against the rules and will get you penalized.

Fake subs and sub4sub violate YouTube TOS and will get you demonetized. Don't do it.

Just as acquiring subscribers in spammy ways is prohibited, getting traffic in spammy ways is also frowned upon and could prevent your videos from being monetized. It can even get your account shut down.

There are legitimate ways to get organic traffic such as using popular keywords and tags, sharing your videos on social media, and things like that. Many YouTubers even buy Google ads to push traffic to their videos and channel pages right there within the YouTube platform.

But if you're engaging in spam tactics to get more views, especially by using automated methods and bots on a large scale, then you could be asking for trouble.

And never, ever tell people to click on your ads. That is against Google's own TOS and will get your AdSense account banned in a heartbeat.

5. Your Content Violates YouTube TOS

Prohibited content is another problem that could prevent you from making money with your videos. As noted above, copyrighted content that someone else made is not allowed. But original content that you made yourself can also violate YouTube's TOS.

Content that promotes hate or violence—and content that depicts acts of violence—can get you demonetized or deleted.

Content that promotes alcohol, drugs, and firearms is also likely to get you demonetized. Google's own TOS for its AdSense program already forbids these types of content, so you can't expect them to place their ads on your videos if you violate their TOS.

Content that reveals people's personal information such as home addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers could also get demonetized.

Another big offense that won't necessarily get your account shut down but that will prevent you from being monetized is excessive profanity. The Creator Insider channel just put out an excellent video to clarify the rules surrounding profanity, so be sure to watch that one if you like to cuss a little in your videos.

For a complete list of prohibited content, see Google's AdSense policies here and also YouTube's policies.

6. You're Channel Is Inactive

If your YouTube channel is inactive for six months, with no video uploads or community posts from you, then YouTube reserves the right to demonetize or even close down your account.

So once your channel does finally get monetized, be sure to keep showing some love by uploading more content, posting to your community feed, and responding to comments from your audience.

Everyone loves passive income, since you can basically set it and forget it, right? But don't forget it for too long, or you could lose it all.

We are living at a truly unique time in history. Not only has the internet and mobile technology radically changed the way we consume content and interact with each other, but it also allows everyday, average people without any special training or resources to create video content and build a business online.

If you're a content creator on YouTube and are waiting to see if you'll be accepted into the YPP program, take a look at your content and make sure that you aren't committing any of these offenses and violating YouTube's policies for creators.

And if you are breaking the rules, delete the offending content and get busy replacing it with legit, original high-quality content that delivers a lot of value to your audience and attracts real subscribers.

I'm not an expert on all things internet, but I have been writing and creating content for a few years now on HubPages, social media, blogs, niche sites and now YouTube. I've made thousands of dollars across a lot of different platforms and have learned a lot of things to do and things not to do.

If you're new to making money on YouTube and on the internet in general and have any questions about this stuff, go ahead and ask in the comments below. I'll do my best to give you helpful answers.

And of course, the HubPages community also has many other members who have been far more successful than I have and will be happy to offer their best suggestions too.

Good luck!

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2019 Chris Desatoff

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on June 20, 2020:

Hey Fred, it's not unusual for people to sub to a channel because they enjoyed a certain video and then not really care about newer videos that come out later on. This is common on channels that put out videos on a variety of topics.

As long as they were real people and not bots that you paid for or something like that, then I don't think that would prevent you from getting monetized.

Just keep trying to upload good, original content that your subscribers enjoy. That's the best way to get monetized.

So if you have certain original videos that have received plenty of views and positive comments, then I would try to put out more videos on those topics. The more you focus your videos around a consistent topic, niche or audience, the more traffic, subs and interactions you'll likely get.

Good luck!

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on June 20, 2020:

Hi Christine, no I don't see why that would be a problem. As far as I know, there aren't any rules against deleting an account and starting a new one under the same email.

Good luck! I hope your channel does well

EZ Fred on June 15, 2020:

Hi there, I have a youtube channel that gains a lot of subscriber from a copyrighted video that i already deleted and the copyright strike has been long gone already, it's been almost a year now actually. However the subscriber that i have gained are still there although most of them are inactive, would that be a reason for my channel not to get monetized? I've meet the requirements 2 months ago with the contents that I have created but I haven't heard anything from youtube since then, I've sent them feedback as well 3 times but i get no reply. Thanks in advance...

Christine on May 25, 2020:

Hi there.just want to ask...

I deleted my old channel in youtube and made new one with the same email and now its growing do you think what i did will create trouble when i apply for monetization?

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on April 01, 2020:

Nope. You're all good.

Youtube has stated that once you are approved, you will not lose your status if your numbers dip back down below 1,000 subs or 4,000 watch hours.

But do try to bring them back up! There's no better time than now, since you have millions of people around the world stuck at home with nothing to do lol =)

Aisha on March 29, 2020:

My channel is approved now but it does not have enough watch time now . Is it necessary to get 1000 sub and 4000 hour watch time every year after the channel approved.

yared on February 28, 2020:

original informative sports medicine content 9k hours and 2200 subs waiting for ypp 2 months. Supremely frustrated dont know what to do !!!!

Adam on October 30, 2019:

Hi there. I have exceed the threshold for sins and hours, been verified as a partner, have no strikes, all my content is created and uploaded by me but I still have grey check marks and have no idea how to resolve it. I do wild life video me that I record myself and my most popular video is of a king cobra eating another snake. Is it possible they have stopped my monetization for all videos because they consider that violence to animals? Really stuggling here and can't find any resources to help me identify what I need to do....

john on October 30, 2019:

I upload movies on my channel but they neither have copyright claim nor I get copyright strike from them. But they are also not original. So will my channel get approved for monetization?

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on October 24, 2019:

I would immediately delete any videos with copied or "stolen" content and only upload original videos that you make yourself going forward. At least you still have some subs to help your new videos get some traffic and momentum. I think that would be better than starting from scratch.

sbeev on October 24, 2019:

Sorry, that must be 1.3k subs and 80 videos, with 30 of them having copyright claims.

sbeev on October 24, 2019:

Hi. My very old channel has 1.3 subs and 8 videos, with 30 of them got copyright claims. My last video was uploaded 4 yrs ago, and now i want to apply for monetization. I will add fresh and original videos to get the required WH. I don't want to have a new channel because it's hard to gain 1k subs. My old channel has met the required no. of subs, so at least now I have to work only on the WH, which currently has 72 hours.

My question is, do you think I should go on with my old channel? What should I do to have my channel approved?

Jino James on October 22, 2019:

I have done sub 4 sub in my channel now what

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on October 03, 2019:

Hi Muhammad,

Youtube counts total subscribers with no time limit. So if you have the required number of subscribers - and if your subscribers are real people and aren't just fake accounts - then you should be approved.

Youtube only counts the watch time from the past 12 months. So watch time older than 12 months will not be counted.

Good luck!

Muhammad Waqas Iqbal on September 30, 2019:

Sir i open my channel two years ago and applied for monitization but i did not get subscribers and watch time .

but now i started again uploading videos and now i am getting more views and subscribers

sir my question is

my monitization status is under review How they count watch time and subscribers from past 2 years or from this month to onward

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on July 30, 2019:

@Ya kwetu Good luck!

Ya kwetu on May 01, 2019:

Thamks my ac...is in review .am going to delete all bad videos before it get rejected ....

Chris Desatoff (author) from USA on January 25, 2019:

Oh no! That must be frustrating to get ads pulled from your videos. I hope you're able to grow your channel and meet the new requirements soon. Are you putting out new content in 2019 to keep building up your numbers so you can get monetized again?

Heidi Thorne from Chicago Area on January 25, 2019:

You absolutely nailed it when it comes to these scammy YouTube games that people play!

I had my channel demonetized because it didn't meet the numbers, even though I provide helpful content for my audience. Oh well...

Thanks for standing up for good YouTube content!

How to Make Money on Youtube Without Monetization

Source: https://toughnickel.com/self-employment/6-Reasons-Why-YouTube-Wont-Monetize-Your-Channel

Share this post