In September 2019, YouTube was penalized for collecting personal information from minors as well as their watch history without parental consent. As a result, Google’s video platform changed its monetization policy for kid’s channels.
The US Federal Trade Commission fined YouTube $170 million and demanded that the necessary changes take effect before the end of December.
The Current Model
Presently, YouTube provides two types of advertisement:
- Context – YouTube places ads whose topic matches the video’s content; the placement happens in the beginning or mid-video, alternatively, it consists of a banner on the lower portion of the screen, according to the channel’s settings.
- Personalized – YouTube identifies the topics you have researched or watched in the platform and places advertisements according to your interest history and information such as geolocation and age, amongst others. This allows the advertiser to define the settings, for instance, to only show the ad to people between 25 to 45 years old living in New York who have watched videos about a specific smartphone model.
It was precisely through the personalized model that YouTube collected information from 13- to 18-year-old users who watched kid’s channels, aiming to show ads to this specific audience. Advertising directly to children is forbidden in the US.
No personalized ads in kid’s content
After the penalty, YouTube released a lengthy statement detailing the changes in their worldwide data policy for kid’s content. Among the shifts, YouTube stated that the platform will:
- Limit the collection and use of the data collected from underage users
- No longer show personalized ads on kids-oriented videos and/or channels
- Keep showing ads, but viewers will be able to limit interaction – e.g., disabling comments
- Content creators will be required to inform if the video targets children
It is worth noting that this policy was already implemented within YouTube Kids – a family-oriented app that has provided a controlled environment since its creation. YouTube will just expand it to kid’s channels within the main platform.
Monetary Reduction
The changes will not demonetize kid’s channels on YouTube, and context-based ads will keep showing on videos that target 13- to 18-year-old users. However, a reduction in profit is expected, seen as personalized ads are more profitable precisely because they reach out to a selected audience.
VirtualNet can manage your YouTube channel, designing the best practices and marketing plans to monetize your videos. Don’t hesitate to contact us and schedule a meeting so that together we can design the most effective plan for the digital presence of your company, brand, service or product.
