Speaker A
This is what you want, right? This is what you want. You want me to draw. You want me to just whip out this like it's nothing. You want me to just push this out like I'm on a
OhitsZiggy discusses YouTube's new stricter monetization rules, their impact on small creators, and his determination to keep creating despite challenges.
Key Takeaways
- YouTube's new monetization rules raise the entry barrier significantly for new creators.
- Small creators feel marginalized and frustrated by the platform's shifting priorities.
- Monetization is crucial not just for income but for accessing features like memberships and merchandise.
- The platform's algorithm favors large channels, reducing visibility for smaller creators.
- Persistence and community support are vital for creators facing these new challenges.
What the video covers
- YouTube has updated its Partner Program requirements, making monetization harder for new and small creators.
- New creators must now achieve 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last year or 20 million qualified short views in 90 days to monetize.
- These changes do not affect creators already in the Partner Program but set a high bar for newcomers.
- OhitsZiggy expresses frustration and anger about the unfairness and unsustainability of these new thresholds.
- He highlights the irony of companies profiting from ads on his videos while small creators struggle to monetize.
- The update aims to invest in new incentive programs but risks discouraging fresh creators from starting.
- Ziggy emphasizes the need for new creators and diverse perspectives to keep the platform vibrant.
- He criticizes YouTube's algorithm favoring large channels, making it harder to discover smaller creators.
- Despite the challenges, Ziggy vows to continue creating content out of passion and defiance.
- He encourages other small creators not to give up and to keep pushing forward.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and frustration with drawing expectations
- 00:18YouTube's sudden monetization changes announcement
- 00:45Explanation of the YouTube Partner Program benefits
- 01:30New monetization requirements and their impact
- 01:57Details on new thresholds and deadlines
- 02:29Examples of ad revenue irony and creator frustration
- 03:16Call for new creators and critique of algorithm favoring big channels
- 04:22Ziggy's resolve to continue creating despite challenges
- 05:28Closing remarks and encouragement to creators
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
production assembly line, right? Okay, well, if that's the case, this is what you're going to get. You're going to get this stick figure right here. If you're not aware by now, don't worry, you will because everyone and their mother is
Speaker A
making a video talking about this, including myself, because now I'm mad. Now I'm mad. Now I'm mad. But anyway, if you're new to whatever chaos is going on right now, YouTube just announced what? Overnight that YouTube is now
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making it harder for creators to get monetized. More specifically, small creators. What that means is that, well, if you weren't born 30 years ago or, I don't know, started a channel 10, 15 years ago, good luck. The YouTube
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Partner Program, what it does for us is that it allows us to get a percentage of ad revenue in our pockets. It also allows us to, like, for example, if we want to have memberships or like member-only content or even, like, if I
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wanted to open a shop, sell some Ziggy merch or like have fun and like just get creative with like merchandise, that's how you do it. You join the Partner Program by being monetized, by meeting that requirement. I can't add a little
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little shopping thing until I hit that requirement. I can't do those kinds of fun things until I hit that requirement.
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None of us can. To keep pace with the growth of YouTube, which now sees over 200 billion daily short views and over billions of hours of watch time on TV every day, we are updating the YouTube Partner Program entry requirements for
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ads and premium revenue sharing for new creators. This update won't impact creators already in the YouTube Partner Program. So, congratulations to you guys. I'm so, I'm truthfully, you don't have to deal with this.
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I'm happy for you. Truthfully, I am. But, you know what? I'm not happy for the rest of us because guess what? New creators applying for the YouTube Partner Program will need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365
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days, or 20 million qualified short views in the last 90 days. Are you insane? The requirement before that was 10 million, which is also insane. 20 million in 90 days? Taken together, these updates allow us to invest in new
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incentive programs that directly support creator growth and the many business models that work across YouTube.
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Creators can review and sign the new terms within YouTube Studio, which will take effect on February 1st, 2027. Us small creators, we literally have an insane deadline to make it to 2027. That means we got to be pumping out.
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That's not sustainable. No. This isn't fair. Are you dead ass right now? And you're probably saying, "Oh, Ziggy, well, you shouldn't be doing it for the money." That's not the point. The point is, companies and businesses still run
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ads on my video. Quite literally, I had someone leave a comment on my video telling me they got a Zaxby's ad for one of my videos. First of all, what do you mean Zaxby's, a fried chicken company, put an advertisement on my video that is
Speaker A
predominantly a chicken? Zaxby's, I need a cut because you didn't do the work. I did. If anyone's being an insane chicken online, it's not you, it's me. So, if you want that, ring me up. Pop in the DMs, say, "Hey, you know what? You want
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to collab?" I'll be like, "Hey, sure. These are my conditions." Ain't no way that that's how that happened, that you still got the ad revenue for me being a chicken. That's unbelievable.
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God forbid that I take pride in the work that I do, and I want to make sure that the videos are as best as they can be with my current skill sets. So many creators have been voicing how they feel
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like quitting, and it's not even worth starting now, and it's making me so mad because we need new creators now more than ever. We do not need more of the same slop. I want to find new creators. I want to learn from new
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perspectives of individuals that aren't what I'm used to. I want to learn, and most importantly, I want community. I don't want to be making just something for something. I want to engage with other people, have fun, build community.
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That's how this platform even started. It's getting to the point where I have to genuinely unsubscribe from creators with millions of subscribers, which, by the way, I followed for years. Like, they didn't always have a million subscribers. They earned that. They grew
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into that. But now I have to unfollow a lot of those folks because the ones that I do follow that are smaller channels, I can't see their new videos on my feed because YouTube thinks the bigger and most popular videos and channels are the
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ones that I want to see. No. Fine. You move the goal post further. What's new? My life was never easy, so why on Earth would it start being easy now? But I'm not going to stop. I'm going to keep pushing myself out there
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until y'all are sick of seeing this damn chicken's face. So guess what? I'm going to not only make the art I want to see, but now, now even more than before, I'm going to create out of spite because I
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will not let anyone, not even a major corporation, tell me I should give up on making a living on being myself because I'm not profitable enough.
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To my followers, to other small creators of all niches, especially the storytime and animation channels like myself, I don't know if y'all will see this, but just know this is absolutely not okay, and it's absolutely garbage. But I'mma
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be here squaring up and creating until I'm spitting inside a Publix's rotisserie oven. So if I won't give up, don't you dare give up either. Now, if y'all excuse me, I got to start figuring some stuff out. Y'all ain't seen the
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last of me, not by a long shot. Now, I'm getting off the, I'm leaving. I'm pissed. [music] I'm out. Whatever.
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Ziggy out. Mhm.
Topics:YouTube monetizationYouTube Partner Programsmall creatorscontent creationYouTube algorithmcreator frustrationshorts monetizationYouTube policy updateOhitsZiggycreator community
