YouTube’s new monetisation policy has garnered mixed reactions from advertisers and content creators. According to the revised policy, the platform now has the power to place ads on not just channels covered by YouTube’s Partner Programme (YPP) but on any content of its choice. The platform has also made it clear that now it will gain the right to charge other users a fee to access any content. 

The revised terms of service effective form June 1 in India will have repercussions on marketers, Indian YouTubers as well as the audience. Some industry experts believe that the policy update will place the platform at a biased advantage as now it can place ads anywhere and also not share the revenues with the creator. 

Mohit Ahuja, Director (Brand Strategy and Client Services), Mirum India says “From an individual content-creator point of view, it is definitely unfair. One might not be paid even if one's content is being monetised and that is touchy. Imagine using older content from other media and not paying for it.”

However, Ahuja points out that from an advertiser perspective, this will work positively as brands will now have access to more content and associations can be sharper and more targeted. 

Further explaining the impact on advertisers, Gurpreet Soundh, Head – Digital Media, Evolute Group asserts “In the short term, advertisers might see an upward trend in their ad results as more spaces will be open for advertising. It will have some ease on bidding competition for the placement from different advertisers. In the long run, small brands will also emerge to run ads on YouTube as the conversion prices will go down.”

The move will also witness a targeted and streamlined strategy adoption by advertisers. Neena Dasgupta, CEO & Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, shares that the policy opens up a whole new world of content for the advertisers. “A lot of good content with extremely high views was not available to advertisers because it did not fall under YPP, but now it's open. Brands and marketers will now have to use sharper targeting on YT rather than broader filters. While it is yet to be seen, I feel there also might be a risk of dilution of the consumer profile reached. To reach a certain type of audience will require better planning now,” she adds.

The Dilemma For Indian Content Creators

It must be mentioned that the change in policy is not just going to affect creators who are not on the YouTube Partners Program, but it will also see a drop in revenue for creators in the YPP program. This is because now YouTube will prefer to exhaust their ad inventories on non-partners videos and save on commission/royalty that they have to pay out.

Explaining the content creators’ plight, Founder of Shutter Cast, Amol Roy says “While the move is indeed a bold step and will bring about disruptions in the content creation and digital marketing domains, this decision to monetize the content of small players and not share the cut with them can turn out to be slightly demotivating for the aspiring creators. 

Earlier the ad placements were solely under YPP (YouTube Partner Programme) and only big creators with permissible subscriber base and views could post ads, this step by YouTube can be beneficial to a certain extent as it will help the creators both big and small in reaching out to a large consumer base and fasten their brand building, but they won’t be able to monetize from these ads.”

The Way Forward For Advertisers

While it is too early to predict the next move of advertisers and how other platforms will alter their revenue measures, it is believed that in the long run, advertisers will emerge as the big winners.

Soundh also says that developing a relevant strategy at this time is not possible for marketers, as it will take three months to read and analyse the data. He points out “Are those non-channel partners who have less than 1000 subscribers worth advertising on? While some big channels with more than a million subscribers don't allow ads in their videos because they think their content is not consumable if the footage is disturbed with the ad.”

He suggested that to get maximum results, brands, marketers and media agencies can broaden their placements and analyse the content consumption patterns of their audience, which can add more relevancy to the placements.

Ahuja also highlighted that at the end the new policy would have boiled down to a demand and supply issue in another category where the interplay among user, advertiser, creator and platform responses would have created a newer and evolving balance. He suggests that this will not be the case here, as YouTube is in a highly monopolised position and can steamroll almost anything.