Monetization review rejected, no specific reason given

Cyn's Corner

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My channel just went through an automatic monetization review and I received an email indicating that it couldn't be accepted. The email didn't list anything specific (it was apparently just their standard boilerplate rejection message), so I am not sure at all what sort of adjustments I'm supposed to make for the re-application. Has anyone encountered this before and figured out what the problem was?
 

Nicekid76

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I have under 1000 subs so I haven't had this happen though I did get monetized back in the day when you didn't require 1000 subs.
That being said, your channel is a reaction channel (I think that's a fair description). That falls into a legal grey area especially since you use large amounts of copyrighted content. I doubt your channel would ever pass an automatic monetization as a reaction channel.

Does your channel have a lot of copyright claims or a copyright strike? - Both of those could limit if your channel would pass an automatic monetization

I believe you can apply for a manual review if you feel your content is fair use.
From my 20 min jumping around different clips and videos on your channel, I personally don't think it's fair use and writing NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED doesn't actually do anything. It's like stealing something and saying "no theft intended".

I'm sure it can be argued to be fair use but I think that is why you didn't get approved.

That being said that's a decision you have to make for your self if you believe it's fair use and if you want a manual review of your channel

ps. I'm not a lawyer nor is this legal advice.
 

Vedstedsen

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I am pretty sure YouTube made a new stance on commentary channels in 2019.

Examples
Fair Use: 10 minute video which uses a few 10 seconds clips with new added meaning or context.

Not Fair Use: 10 minute video with 10 minutes of someone elses content, with 10 seconds of commentary.

In between you have a large grey area, where I suspect you can be found. Where some people get monetized and some don't.
 

Nicekid76

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I am pretty sure YouTube made a new stance on commentary channels in 2019.

Examples
Fair Use: 10 minute video which uses a few 10 seconds clips with new added meaning or context.

Not Fair Use: 10 minute video with 10 minutes of someone elses content, with 10 seconds of commentary.

In between you have a large grey area, where I suspect you can be found. Where some people get monetized and some don't.
What you said is a really good point of reference. Some of the OP's videos are 14min long and like 9 min of the copyrighted material. Sorta falls into the grey area
that being said Youtube sets up Guideline, to help creators but unfortunately youtube doesn't get a real say on this. Fair use in this case is a Copyright law set by the United States government. (I realize a lot of countries have fair use laws) Even if you arent in the USA, Youtube mainly follows USA laws.

Again I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice
 

Cyn's Corner

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I'm not sure. As I said, they did not give a specific reason. Also, the types of videos that I do fall under YouTube's classification of videos that can be monetized. It says it right there on their page. So I have no clue.
 

Crown

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It's a reaction channel that shows the original content on the screen. As others have said, that is high risk and very unlikely to be accepted. YouTube wants original content and are quite willing to reject "grey area" content because it avoids issues for them.
 

Cyn's Corner

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Thanks for all your input, guys.

Per YouTube's own words, this is something that can be monetized: Reaction videos where you comment on the original video.

The whole focus of my channel has always been to make sure that I add significant commentary / review / critique to the videos that I make. I do not just play the material and offer little or no commentary to it. in many - if not most - of my videos, more than half of the videos' length is me adding my individual commentary (during and after whatever I play), giving transformative value to the material I put out. I think I assumed that the original monetization review was done manually to begin with. Did not realize it was an automated thing. I do plan to request an additional review whenever that option is available to me.
 

Cyn's Corner

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They did give you a reason. What was it?
They did not give me a specific reason. It was just a boilerplate form letter message, referring me to their monetization policies page, etc. On that page, there are various different things mentioned. I have no idea what it is they zeroed in on with my channel. Because they never told me.