Channel demonetized for "Reused content"

[Everglow]

So I've been working on this channel of mine for about 6 years by now, never encountered too big issues. It's a video game focused channel with 90k subscribers, which means that every single video I upload is always different, thus being impossible to be "reused" or a "duplicate" to something me or other people have uploaded in the whole web.

I'm trying to figure out what's the issue before re-applying in 30 days.

I don't do voice overs, nor I add my face on the videos. They are, of course, all played and recorded by me. They're just gameplays and cutscenes from a video game and every video is always different from the others.

I do have a few videos flagged with third-party copyrights, which is stuff related to some custom musics I added in some of them. My channel status is, however, perfectly clean and doesn't have any copyright strikes (the serious ones).

I also have uploaded some of this game most popular soundtracks. The format is a static picture + music. I have a feeling these could represent the issue, but since everything is so vague I can't see anything certain about this.

Any help on this matter would be extremely helpful. How many good chances are there for me to get reapplied again without waiting for months just to get rejected again?

 

[cbpayne]

YT use a very broad definition of "reuse".
I looked at one of your videos and it was just a screen recording of a game play; no commentary, nothing useful other than "reusing" the games content. Channels that do that are tending not to be monetized.

 

[Everglow]

YT use a very broad definition of "reuse".
I looked at one of your videos and it was just a screen recording of a game play; no commentary, nothing useful other than "reusing" the games content. Channels that do that are tending not to be monetized.

Which means that like 60% of any gaming channel is supposed not to get monetization? I never knew that recording gameplays with no commentary wouldn't be eligible for monetization. It's always been perfectly fine for 6 years and never have I been told that the commentary/facecams are essential rules to get it monetized.

 

[UKHypnotist]

I do have a few videos flagged with third-party copyrights, which is stuff related to some custom musics I added in some of them.

Those copyright claims will work against your successful monetization just as hard as the fact you do no commentary as you game; as they yell loud and clearly that at least some of the content in those videos wasn't created by you.

Here is YouTube's own stance regarding gameplay videos.

"What can I monetize?
Video game content may be monetized depending on the commercial use rights granted to you by licenses of video game publishers. Some video game publishers allow you to use all video game content for commercial use and state that in their license agreements. Likewise, videos showing software user interface may be monetized only if you have a contract with the publisher or you have paid a licensing fee.

To learn more about obtaining commercial use rights to third party content, please review how to read licenses to understand your rights and what YouTube looks for in your documentation.

What can't I monetize?
Without the appropriate license from the publisher, use of video game or software user interface must be minimal. Video game content may be monetized if the associated step-by-step commentary is strictly tied to the live action being shown and provides instructional or educational value.

Videos simply showing a user playing a video game or the use of software for extended periods of time may not be accepted for monetization."

You're going to have to redo all of the videos where you are doing no commentary, taking note of the parts of the rules I've placed in bold font; and also get rid of the game music over static picture videos. Then, because redoing/reuploading those videos will erase your watchtime total, you are going to need to build up to 4000 hours in the past 365 days again.

Even so, since you are not the developer/publisher of the games in question, there is no guarantee that YouTube will agree to monetize your channel; as gameplay itself involves non-original content for its basis.

 

[Crown]

Moved to the networks / monetization forum.

 

[KidsEggSuprise]

Yeah there is a fine line between just showing game play and providing something in addition to just playing the game. Advertisers want unique content and something that adds value and uniqueness. YouTube continues to get more feedback from advertisers and the rules continue to change because advertisers don't want to pay for something that has a low quality level of getting a return on their investment. This is why on TV primetime TV is saved for the best TV shows that will pull in the most for the advertising and advertisers pay more for that time. They want to do the same for each video and at this time YouTube only has a blanket advertise or not option.

Add in some voiceovers and start connecting with your audience personally, and that will make your channel grow and keep the advertisers happy until they decide they don't want to advertise some products on gaming channels then things will change again.

 

[Everglow]

Add in some voiceovers and start connecting with your audience personally, and that will make your channel grow and keep the advertisers happy until they decide they don't want to advertise some products on gaming channels then things will change again.

Thing is that adding voiceovers would plain go against my way of working on these kinds of videos. I've been working with this same style since 2007 (the one I have now is my second, definitive channel since 2012) and if I got some success it's because of the professional way I'm dealing with these video game saga playthroughs.

People have been following me especially because I do professional, silent gameplay connecting all of the game titles together. I wouldn't have gone that far if I didn't maintain this style for all this time. Especially my most recent project counting around 120 episodes, which is way more than just random gameplay as it connects all of the Kingdom Hearts titles being released since 2002 to 2017. It's been greatly appreciated by the whole Kingdom Hearts community but it's technically impossible adding voiceovers on such a project, as it's composed as if it were a tv series, so to speak. The whole community recognized this as the biggest, most ambitious project ever made for the Kingdom Hearts saga. Same goes with all the previous playthroughs and video guides I've been making for years.
There are Japanese exclusives titles of the saga and I work on recording those updates by adding an English text translation of them. I'm the only one in the world providing a full English translation of this title, by replacing the Japanese balloons text with the English ones I create myself. How can I possibly even think of forcing my voice over these kinds of videos?

I can get rid of the few videos containing those third-party claims and all of those soundtracks I mentioned earlier, I don't care about them. But there are just some playthrough videos that need to be just played without any direct contact with the audience (voice overs or facecams), not because I want that, but because the video itself demands it.

 

[EnemyCrab]

I think some are missing the point here.

Voice overs are by no means whatsoever a requirement for gaming videos to be monetized. Sure, it might help your videos get more views (or serve as a detriment as it does with many channels depending on what your voice sounds like) but there is nothing anywhere that says you have to do it.

What I'm seeing here is a channel with a fairly huge subscriber base with hundreds of videos that routinely break over 10k views each. As far as YouTube is concerned, this is good.

What is likely the case here, and I say without actually watching every single individual video, is that there are possibly quite a few videos with overlapping content.

For instance: One video posted several years ago might contain the same animated cutscene as one posted more recently. The Kingdom Hearts franchise itself is prone to reusing cutscenes across different games and could cause YouTube's algorithms to detect repeat content if there are multiple videos containing the same scenes.

What I would do is purge a lot of the older videos with lower view counts that might possibly contain footage that overlaps with more recent videos, then reapply for monotization.

 

[Everglow]

The Kingdom Hearts franchise itself is prone to reusing cutscenes across different games and could cause YouTube's algorithms to detect repeat content if there are multiple videos containing the same scenes.

What I would do is purge a lot of the older videos with lower view counts that might possibly contain footage that overlaps with more recent videos, then reapply for monotization.

I'm glad to hear someone saying this, because it's one of my main concerns as well. I did have to record all of the game cutscenes, separately, for a Kingdom Hearts website's video archive. That means that I have like 200+ uploaded cutscenes from the English version, and the same 200+ cutscenes from the Japanese version. They're identical—same length, but with different audio of course. This is the very first thing that came up to my mind when I read the "reused content" thing, although I do realize it's a very vague term for this case in particular.

Those cutscenes are the first things I thought of removing before reapplying, but I can't see the missing voice overs as a fundamental requirement to get a video monetized. That would be absurd.


From the official YPP rules:

If you upload content from multiple sources or repurpose existing content, you may still be eligible for YPP so long as you’re contributing to the value of that content in some way. For example, if you add significant original commentary, educational value, narrative, or high quality editing, then your channel may be fine to monetize.

The three things listed in bold there, especially the "high quality editing" part are definitely part of my content. Except, of course, for the cutscenes mentioned before.
That is, of course, something that only a human being could notice, and not a bot.

 

[EnemyCrab]

That means that I have like 200+ uploaded cutscenes from the English version, and the same 200+ cutscenes from the Japanese version.

Bingo.

The audio was never the issue. Voicing over repeat/overlapping footage would never have helped. --and when there are as many videos as there are using the same clips it is bound to happen. My guess would be to remove the ones that get viewed less (either English or Japanese) then submit for review.