YouTube has recently updated its Terms of Service in order to provide more transparency and clarification about its terms to its users. According to YouTube, the changes involved shouldn’t alter social media for business significantly. The major changes that were announced by the company include the following:

• Restrictions on facial recognition
• The right to monetize by YouTube
• Tax withholdings and royalty payments

On June 1, 2021, the new terms and conditions will start to take effect for any users that are located outside the USA. These terms were earlier updated similarly in the US in November 2020. Anyone that continues to use the YouTube platform after June 1, 2021 anywhere in the world, is agreeing to the changes made with the terms. As well, if a person has a child or children and they are allowed to continue accessing YouTube Kids, the parents are agreeing to these new terms for their child or children.

Restrictions on Facial Recognition

According to the existing Terms of Service, any information regarding a person’s identity cannot be collected without first getting their permission. This has always included information regarding facial recognition but the term changes have made this abundantly clear.

The Right to Monetize by YouTube

Any content that is placed on the YouTube platform can be monetized. YouTube has the right to this monetization on the platform and ads can be shown on videos from channels that aren’t already a part of the YouTube Partner Program.

Tax Withholdings and Royalty Payments

If you are using YouTube as a social media for business platform and are entitled to receive revenue payments, they will be treated from an American tax perspective as royalties. This means that taxes will be withheld by Google where and when the law requires them to be held back.

Photo by Szabó Viktor from Pexels

How This May Affect Social Media Optimization

Moving forward from June, any content that has been created by an individual that has not yet enrolled for the Partner Program with YouTube will also have advertisements running. These are ads that have been curated by YouTube. Any videos that are not linked to the Partner Program will still have the ads running but the owners of these videos won’t be able to earn any type of revenue from the promotions.

In terms of social media optimization, it just makes sense to ensure that you have signed up for the YouTube Partner Program. There are going to be ads running on your videos from now on so you might as well earn some money from them. Like it or not, this is the way things are going to be operating beginning on June 1, 2021.

In order to participate in the YouTube Partner Program, an individual must have at least 1,000 subscribers. As well, there must be 4,000 public watch hours that are valid within the previous 12 months. If you haven’t reached that threshold yet, you may want to get started with some YouTube social media optimization so that you can reach that point as quickly as possible.

When you use YouTube as a platform, you are giving the company the right to monetize the content you provide on this service. The monetization can include ads being displayed within videos or on content or charging a user fee for access to the video. At the same time, this agreement doesn’t entitle you to payments. Any payments that you might be entitled to get from YouTube including payments under the YouTube Super Chat, Partner Program or Channel memberships will be treated as royalties. The payments will be subject to tax laws and Google will have the right to withhold taxes as required by the law.

YouTube Advertisements and Growing Revenue Channels

According to many observers in the industry, this new change has been motivated by revenue channels that have been growing quickly due to YouTube advertisements. In the last March quarter of 2021, the parent company of Google, by the name of Alphabet, earned $6 billion from advertising on YouTube. This displayed a 49% rise in year-over-year growth. Several global brands such as Kellogg’s and Taco Bell saw a huge benefit by reaching a wider audience through the YouTube platform. 

Linear TV can’t reach the masses like it used to and is considered to be an approach that is more historical. Advertisers are turning to YouTube to find an audience that is unreachable in any other way. Statistics show that there are more people aged 18 years to 49 years that are watching YouTube than all forms of linear TV combined. This is huge in terms of how much reach a company can have and is influencing the way businesses are marketing their products.

Social Media Management 

YouTube’s reach can’t be overlooked by creators of content according to industry observers. Businesses should be looking at all of their options in terms of marketing and using a social media management company when help is required. With more than 2 billion users logging into YouTube each month and more than a billion hours of videos watched on the platform every day, this is one social platform that should be addressed by companies of all types. This is where your audience is and you can run YouTube ads easily with the help and expertise of social media management Toronto specialists.

There has been a year-over-year growth of approximately 65% in terms of the number of YouTube channels that have more than 1 million subscribers. The aggregate payout to YouTube partners that have been monetizing the YouTube channel is more than $2 billion USD.

It’s important to read through the new updated terms and conditions carefully to make sure you understand the business model and all of the rules and guidelines that apply. If you have any further questions regarding these new terms and how they can affect your social media for business advertising efforts, please contact us now at qodemedia.com. We are a social media management Toronto agency that connects businesses to social platforms in order to extend their reach. Find out how we can help your business expand using this direct advertising model on YouTube and on other social media channels.