Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
There’s been a dramatic shift within the digital world, and consumers are no longer simply consuming content. Everyone with a smartphone who posts to a social media account is now a content creator, regardless of whether they realize it or not.
Nowadays, even the most casual content creators are able to earn money from views on the videos they share. Contrary to popular belief, making money on digital content doesn’t necessarily require you to devote countless hours to building an audience through vlogging or developing an online “personality.” Social media users and everyday consumers can make a significant amount of money, all by realizing the value of the content they already create and share online with their friends and family.
With the recent scandals involving YouTube stars (see Logan Paul and Pew Die Pie), one might have expected that YouTube would have done more to support creators who focus on producing brand-safe, family-friendly content. However, YouTube’s latest policy changes actually make it harder for smaller creators to make money on their content through advertising. As of January, YouTube began requiring that creators have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of view time (in the past year). This is a huge shift from the company’s previous policy that allowed any channel with 10,000 views to apply for the Partner Program, which allows creators to monetize their content. With a new emphasis placed on overall watch time and subscribers, YouTube’s changes are penalizing most content creators, particularly those with smaller or more niche audiences.
Not surprisingly, there has been a significant backlash across the web, as these new guidelines have effectively “laid off” smaller creators from YouTube’s Partner Program, at a time when many Americans are looking for new and creative ways to generate household income. In recent years however, new video platforms have emerged that are specifically built to help individual…
