I think it's referring to letting the YouTube AI pre-screen the videos before making a video go live. Putting the video as private / unlisted instead of letting the video immediately go live after uploading gives YouTube time to flag it appropriately. If it is flagged for demonitization before it goes live, it gives you a chance to take the video down, make edits, and re-upload to try to make the video more advertiser-friendly. Making videos advertiser-friendly helps you maximize possible revenue from a video.
I figured that, but to me it does not make logical sense. I monetize my videos whether I post them public or unlisted. How you post them has does not affect whether they are monetized. That is a separate function. Last week I posted a video unlisted that got 600 views in 24 hours from a facebook post. I don't understand how posting a video unlisted makes a difference. Also, YT has me fill out that AD Suitability page before I post a video. Why have me fill that out, if it does not do anything? What is the purpose of answering those questions, if they are not going to believe my answers? Not once have I ever lied or misled them. If they are not going to grant me trust, why keep asking me the questions? You see what I mean. It makes no sense.
Another thing is that they don't give you a timeline. They ask you to list as private or unlisted, but they don't say for how long. For a day? For a week? For a month? How long do they want us to wait before making a video public? And back to the Maximize Revenue thing; the counter implication of their statement is that if you don't list your videos as not public first, that you will not make as much on them. If that were not the case, then what logical reason would anyone have to not go ahead and list them as public. The way that statement is phrased is a Request with the potential of a Reward. If there is no reward for doing so, and no punishment for not doing so, then why even make the request? What is the motivating factor for acquiescing to their request?
I hate things that are illogical and that go against critical thinking. Nothing about that statement makes any logical sense. If it said, "
Please do not monetize your video for 24-hours until the system has scanned it and assessed it for ad suitability." that would make a little more sense. But even that seems a bit insulting since they just asked you to fill out a full-page questioner about ad suitability of your video. It is kind of like a person asking a bunch of questions and then slapping you in the face and saying,
"I DON"T BELIEVE YOU, and I am going to check everything out myself!" Okay! If you pre-decided that you were not going to believe me, THEN WHY DID YOU ASK ME THE QUESTIONS?
I sometimes wonder if the people that work at YT are on drugs. Having worked in a drug addiction treatment center as a counselor, and dealt with many drug addicts, I know first hand how they can be extremely smart about technological stuff, but lack any and all common sense and critical thinking skills.