External link cards are commonplace on YouTube, allowing content creators to seamlessly link their videos to their own platforms, affiliate sites, Patreon accounts or just about anywhere else they may desire, where appropriate of course. This functionality provides an important revenue stream for many of YouTube’s content creators, whether it be their sole income from the channel or used simply to supplement earnings from the monetisation of their videos.
However the famed video platform has now managed to
infuriate a large number of content creators who operate smaller channels or do
not wish to opt in to the YouTube Partner Programme, as they have now restricted the use of external link
cards to those involved in the programme.
While creators are not required to actually enable
monetisation in order to make use of link cards, they do have to be a YouTube
Partner, and to do that you need 10,000 channel views. This is where much of
the frustration stems from, as it essentially blocks any smaller channels from
linking to the very pages that help them to grow their audience and revenue
outside of YouTube’s own platform. Couple this with the complete lack of prior
notice concerning the change and it plain to see why many creators are kicking
up something of a fuss about this.
The absence of any announcement from YouTube is perhaps the
most infuriating aspect of this change, as it did not allow those affected by
it to make the necessary adjustments ahead of time, instead catching them
unaware. In fact, YouTube only commented on the change at all after said
creators started to notice and question the new policy, in response to which
YouTube released the following statement:
“In order to use externally-linking end cards in videos,
creators are being asked to join the YouTube Partner program, so that we can
evaluate the validity of the channel, as well as determine whether the channel
is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies. This update is
meant to curb abuse and does not affect current YouTube partners or existing
end cards. Additionally channels do not have to actually monetize any videos as
part of this requirement.”
From the above statement it does appear that the policy
change is intended to discourage and prevent the abuse of external link cards
on the platform, rather than simply inconveniencing their users in an effort to
drive up numbers relating to the Partner Programme (although I’m sure that
played some role in the decision). The new policy places an additional level of
scrutiny on creators and their content via the existing guidelines of the YouTube
Partner Programme, under which all applicant channels are fully reviewed before
being accepted. As a result, browsing through the platform and any links that
may appear therein should be a safer experience for the end user.
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