Tag Archives: YouTube

Get the new Pixel and more, with Pixel Pass

Today, we introduced the new Pixel 6 and Pixel Pro, and we’re also announcing a whole new way to get them. Pixel Pass brings together the latest Pixel phone with Google’s best mobile services, device protection and regular device upgrades — all in one easy subscription.

Pixel Pass is $45 per month for the Pixel 6 and $55 per month for the Pixel 6 Pro. With both Pixel Pass plans, you’ll get the most personal and helpful phone we’ve ever created, combined with the best of Google services to get the most out of your new device. That includes:

  • YouTube Premium for ad-free watching and background play while using other apps
  • YouTube Music Premium for ad-free, uninterrupted listening
  • Google One with 200 GB of safe, reliable cloud storage for full resolution photos and videos, Google Store discounts, automatic phone backup and more
  • Google Play Pass with access to hundreds of games and apps completely free of ads and in-app purchases
  • Preferred Care coverage to cover life’s little accidents with hassle-free device repairs

You can subscribe to Pixel Pass on the Google Store or with a phone plan on Google Fi. When you subscribe to Pixel Pass on the Google Store, you save up to $294 over two years. Plus, your Pixel phone is unlocked, so it works with all major carriers. And if you subscribe through Google Fi with a phone plan, you can save an additional $5 off your monthly Fi plan, totaling up to $414 in savings over two years.

Once you’re subscribed to Pixel Pass, you can manage everything in one place and pay with just one low monthly bill. And if you try it out and it’s just not right for you, you can cancel anytime — just pay off the remaining value of your Pixel phone at regular price.

Pixel Pass with Pixel 6 is available for pre-order today in the U.S. starting at $45 per month on Google Store or Google Fi.

HLTH: Building on our commitments in health

Tonight kicked off the HLTH event in Boston that brings together leaders across health to discuss healthcare's most pressing problems and how we can tackle them to improve care delivery and outcomes.

Over the past two years, the pandemic shined a light on the importance of our collective health — and the role the private sector, payers, healthcare delivery organizations, governments and public health play in keeping communities healthy. For us at Google, we saw Search, Maps and YouTube become critical ways for people to learn about COVID-19. So we partnered with public health organizations to provide information that helped people stay safe, find testing and get vaccinated. In addition, we provided healthcare organizations, researchers and non-profits with tools, data and resources to support pandemic response and research efforts.

As I mentioned on the opening night of HLTH, Google Health is our company-wide effort to help billions of people be healthier by leaning on our strengths: organizing information and developing innovative technology. Beyond the pandemic, we have an opportunity to continue helping people to address health more holistically through the Google products they use every day and equipping healthcare teams with tools and solutions that help them improve care.

Throughout the conference, leaders from Google Health will share more about the work we’re doing and the partnerships needed across the health industry to improve health outcomes.

Meeting people in their everyday moments and empowering them to be healthier

People are increasingly turning to technology to manage their daily health and wellbeing — from using wearables and apps to track fitness goals, to researching conditions and building community around those with similar health experiences. At Google, we’re working to connect people with accurate, timely and actionable information and tools that can help them manage their health and achieve their goals.

On Monday, Dr. Garth Graham, who leads healthcare and public health partnerships for YouTube, will join the panel “Impactful Health Information Sharing” to discuss video as a powerful medium to connect people with engaging and high-quality health information. YouTube has been working closely with organizations, like the American College of Physicians, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Mass General Brigham, to increase authoritative video content.

On Tuesday, Fitbit’s Dr. John Moore will join a panel on “The Next Generation of Health Consumers” focusing on how tools and technologies can help people take charge of their health and wellness between doctors’ visits — especially for younger generations. Regardless of age, there’s a huge opportunity for products like Fitbit to deliver daily, actionable insights into issues that can have a huge impact on overall health, like fitness, stress and sleep.

Helping health systems unlock the potential of healthcare data

Across Google Health, we’re building solutions and tools to help unlock the potential of healthcare data and transform care delivery. Care Studio, for example, helps clinicians at the point of care by bringing together patient information from different EHR systems into an integrated view. We’ve been piloting this tool at select hospital sites in the U.S. and soon clinicians in the pilot will have access to the Care Studio Mobile app so they can quickly access the critical patient information they need, wherever they are — whether that’s bedside, at clinic or in a hospital corridor.

In addition to Care Studio, we’re developing solutions that will bring greater interoperability to healthcare data, helping organizations deliver better care. Hear more from Aashima Gupta, Google Cloud’s global head of healthcare solutions, at HLTH in two sessions. On Monday, October 18, Aashima will discuss how digital strategies can reboot healthcare operations, and on Tuesday, October 19 she will join the panel “Turning of the Data Tides” to discuss different approaches to data interoperability and patient access to health records.

Building for everyone

Where people live, work and learn can greatly impact their experience with health. Behind many of our products and initiatives are industry experts and leaders who are making sure we build for everyone, and create an inclusive environment for that work to take place. During the Women at HLTH Luncheon on Tuesday, Dr. Ivor Horn, our Director of Health Equity, will share her career journey rooted in advocacy, entrepreneurship and activism.

From our early days as a company, Google has sought to improve the lives of as many people as possible. Helping people live healthier lives is one of the most impactful ways we can do that. It will take more than a single feature, product or initiative to improve health outcomes for everyone. If we work together across the healthcare industry and embed health into all our work, we can make the greatest impact.

For more information about speakers at HLTH, check out the full agenda.

Fostering an open and inclusive community with our creators


For millions of Indians, YouTube is woven into the fabric of everyday life, whether it is to laugh, learn, or be inspired by transformative stories. YouTube is a vibrant destination for people to find inspiring content fuelled by the extraordinary diversity that our creators represent across geographies, demographics, identities and cultures. This diversity is our superpower and we not only want to promote it but supercharge it. 


As we continue to foster and grow our ecosystem, we remain cognizant of and committed to the responsibility that comes with being a platform that values openness. Our community guidelines offer guardrails for our creators for content on YouTube. And, we are extending our efforts with the launch of #CreateWithCare, our latest initiative in India that partners with leading creators to preserve and promote a diverse, inclusive community on YouTube that can drive responsible growth. #CreateWithCare aligns with our mission to empower creators from all backgrounds, communities, languages, and genders, including many that may be under-represented, to find their voice, an audience and cultivate a sense of belonging.

 

Technical Guruji, Kabita's Kitchen, Prajakta Koli, Madan Gowri, My Village Show, Bhadipa, Kushiyagi Ramya, Vishal Langthasa, Wonder Munna, Salu Kitchen among 30 leading creators across 8 languages to take the #CreateWithCare pledge


Today, at our Creator Camp event, a platform that serves as a learning forum for emerging creators to gain from the community of creators and YouTube product experts, we showcased the #CreateWithCare Pledge. The pledge unites popular creators from all corners of India in their endeavor to create content more thoughtfully by educating themselves about different cultures and histories, being respectful of diverse points of views and facilitating meaningful, open engagements among their communities. With #CreateWithCare, we want to help and inspire all our creators, even those who may just be starting their journey on YouTube, to approach content creation with a lens of responsibility.


Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission of Women in India, took to the stage to reiterate the transformative role technology plays in empowering women by enhancing access to learning and employment opportunities, extending her encouragement to our creator community to create content responsibly and inclusively. Creators also had the opportunity to learn from V R Ferose, founder of India Inclusion Foundation, as he enumerated a few ways in which creators could be more empathetic in representing persons with disabilities in their content. 


Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships, Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission for Women, and V R Ferose, Founder - India Inclusion Foundation speak at Creator Camp 


We are incredibly proud of our growing cohort of creators like Ranveer Allahbadia, who today has his own talent management and brand marketing agency, or My Village Show, whose unique take on village comedy birthed a whole new genre on YouTube, who have used their distinctive, authentic voices to build not only engaged communities but also successful business ventures. And, we will continue to safeguard our community of viewers and creators alike, by making everyone feel welcome and heard on our platform. 


Our #CreateWithCare campaign will continue to bring together prolific creators to create useful resources and discuss how to be respectful of diversity as they create content that has the power to impact lives. Stay tuned to YouTube Creators India for more on #CreateWithCare.


Posted by Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships

YouTube Shorts Fund expands to Australia

Australian creators are now eligible for a Shorts Fund bonus! We started the YouTube Shorts Fund to reward creators who make creative and unique Shorts - and now we’re expanding eligibility to over 30 new countries, including Australia! 
First announced by Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s Chief Business Officer in August, the US$100M fund will be distributed over 2021-2022. Each month, we’ll invite thousands of eligible creators to claim a payment from the Fund. This is the first step in our journey to build a monetisation model for Shorts on YouTube and any creator that meets our eligibility criteria can participate. 
We’re excited about what this means for creators in Australia. Not only does the Shorts Fund reward the next generation of mobile creators for their original contributions to Shorts, it also offers them a new way to earn money and build a business on YouTube. 
YouTube has helped a growing community of creators and artists to transform their creativity into viable businesses. We laid the groundwork for this modern-day creator economy over 14 years ago when we launched the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) — a first-of-its kind business model that shares the majority of revenue generated on the platform with creators. Along the way, we’ve continued investing in new monetisation options for creators beyond advertising, including, Merchandise, Channel Memberships, Super Chats and Super Stickers. In just over the last three years, we’ve paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies. And in Q2 2021, we paid more to YouTube creators and partners than in any quarter in our history. 
What do How Ridiculous, Economics Explained and Saksham Magic all have in common? They’re storytellers, directors, editors, marketers, and entrepreneurs — all in one. The incredible range of talents and skills of creators is inspiring. To give creators the opportunities they need to find success, YouTube has evolved from being just a place where people upload and share videos. It’s now a destination where creators can find new audiences, connect with fans in different ways, and build growing businesses. Our shared goal with creators is to help them build robust and diversified business models that work with both their unique content and community of fans. 
Alongside the Shorts Fund, here are more ways creators can make money and build a business on YouTube: 
  • Shorts Fund 
    • The YouTube Shorts Fund, a US$100M fund distributed over 2021-2022, launches today! Each month, we'll reach out to thousands of eligible creators to claim a payment from the Fund - creators can make anywhere from US$100 to US$10,000 based on viewership and engagement on their Shorts. The Shorts Fund is the first step in our journey to build a monetisation model for Shorts on YouTube and is not limited to just creators in YPP — any creator that meets our eligibility criteria can participate. We're also dedicated to providing funding via our Black Voices Fund. 
  • Ads 
    • Ads have been at the core of creators’ revenue streams, and continue to be the main way that creators can earn money on YouTube. Creators receive the majority of the revenue generated from ads on YouTube. 
  • YouTube Premium 
    • YouTube Premium is a paid subscription option which enables members to enjoy ad-free content, background playback, downloads, and premium access to the YouTube Music app. The majority of subscription revenue goes to YouTube partners. 
  • Channel memberships 
    • With channel memberships, creators can offer exclusive perks and content to viewers who join their channel as a monthly paying member at prices set by the creator. 
  • Super Chat 
    • Fans watching livestreams and Premieres can purchase a Super Chat: a highlighted message in the chat stream that stands out from the crowd to get even more of their favorite creator’s attention. 
  • Super Thanks 
    • Now viewers can give thanks and appreciation on uploaded videos as well through Super Thanks. As an added bonus, fans will get a distinct, colourful comment to highlight the purchase, which creators can respond to. 
  • Super Stickers 
    • Another way followers can show support during livestreams and Premieres is with Super Stickers, which allows fans to purchase a fun sticker that stands out. 
  • Merchandise 
    • The merch shelf allows channels to showcase their official branded merchandise right on their watch page on YouTube. Creators can choose from 30 different retailers globally. 
  • Ticketing 
    • Music fans can learn about upcoming concert listings and with a simple click, go directly to our ticketing partners’ sites to purchase tickets. 
Every new fan that subscribes to their favourite creators’ channels, every new member that joins, every like, comment received and every dollar earned goes into building the business ventures of tomorrow. At YouTube, the passion and ambition of our creators fuels us to continue innovating new ways to help them realise their goals and we are committed to introducing more revenue opportunities for our creators. As creators become the next generation of media companies, we’ll continue to deliver more ways to help them do just that. 

Posted by YouTube Australia

Managing harmful vaccine content on YouTube

Crafting policy around medical misinformation comes charged with inherent challenges and tradeoffs. Scientific understanding evolves as new research emerges, and firsthand, personal experience regularly plays a powerful role in online discourse. Vaccines in particular have been a source of fierce debate over the years, despite consistent guidance from health authorities about their effectiveness. Today, we're expanding our medical misinformation policies on YouTube with new guidelines on currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and the WHO.


Our Community Guidelines already prohibit certain types of medical misinformation. We've long removed content that promotes harmful remedies, such as saying drinking turpentine can cure diseases. At the onset of COVID-19, we built on these policies when the pandemic hit, and worked with experts to develop 10 new policies around COVID-19 and medical misinformation. Since last year, we’ve removed over 130,000 videos for violating our COVID-19 vaccine policies.


Throughout this work, we learned important lessons about how to design and enforce nuanced medical misinformation policies at scale. Working closely with health authorities, we looked to balance our commitment to an open platform with the need to remove egregious harmful content. We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we're now at a point where it's more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines. 


Specifically, content that falsely alleges that approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, claims that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, or contains misinformation on the substances contained in vaccines will be removed. This would include content that falsely says that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that substances in vaccines can track those who receive them. Our policies not only cover specific routine immunizations like for measles or Hepatitis B, but also apply to general statements about vaccines.


As with our COVID guidelines, we consulted with local and international health organizations and experts in developing these policies. For example, our new guidance on vaccine side effects maps to public vaccine resources provided by health authorities and backed by medical consensus. These policy changes will go into effect today, and as with any significant update, it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement. 


There are important exceptions to our new guidelines. Given the importance of public discussion and debate to the scientific process, we will continue to allow content about vaccine policies, new vaccine trials, and historical vaccine successes or failures on YouTube. Personal testimonials relating to vaccines will also be allowed, so long as the video doesn't violate other Community Guidelines, or the channel doesn't show a pattern of promoting vaccine hesitancy. 


All of this complements our ongoing work to raise up authoritative health information on our platform and connect people with credible, quality health content and sources.


Today’s policy update is an important step to address vaccine and health misinformation on our platform, and we’ll continue to invest across the board in the policies and products that bring high quality information to our viewers and the entire YouTube community.


Posted by The YouTube Team

YouTube’s approach to copyright

EU member states are in the process of implementing the European Copyright Directive into national law. These changes include the incorporation of Article 15, which introduced a new copyright for press publishers, and Article 17, which introduced new rules for certain content-sharing services like YouTube. Here’s a little more on what YouTube in particular is doing. 

Developing our compliance plans

YouTube supports updating copyright rules for the digital age and has been working closely with policymakers across Europe on Article 17’s implementation and on a means of compliance that best meets the needs of our partners’ growing businesses, while also continuing to contribute to the economy. For example, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed approximately €775 million to Germany’s GDP in 2019, supporting the equivalent of 25,000 full time equivalent jobs, according to Oxford Economics. As we develop our compliance plans, it’s important to us that the fundamental rights of rightsholders, including media companies, creators, artists and users, are protected. At the same time, supporting the creative industries such as the YouTube creators who are building next generation media companies that impact the economy's overall success, is a priority to us.

Implementing Content ID for better creative control

YouTube has long believed that effective rightsholder management is key to a healthy business and flourishing creativity. This is why we created a set of copyright management tools, for example, investing over 100 million U.S. dollars to develop our Content ID technology which allows rightsholders to manage their content across the platform in a highly nuanced and sophisticated way. YouTube has worked with rightsholders such as record companies, labels, music collecting societies and film and television creators and producers for many years. In fact, Content ID enables rightsholders to control and manage their content on YouTube, while also gaining a new source of income. More than 95% of the time when rightsholders claim content through Content ID, they choose to allow the content to remain on the platform and earn money generated by ads and subscriptions, rather than block the content. This has resulted in an entirely new revenue stream.  Over the last three years alone, YouTube paid $30B to media companies, creators and artists, and in the last twelve months, YouTube paid over $4B dollars to the music industry, 30% of which came from user-generated content monetized through Content ID.

Copyright Match Tool

We are also expanding access to more copyright tools for more creators. For example, we recently expanded our Copyright Match Tool so that any rightsholder who successfully submits a copyright removal — whether they host their content on our platform or not — can have access to our matching technology and are able to manage their copyrighted material in a powerful, efficient and user-friendly way. We also allow rightsholders who submit copyright takedown notices to request that YouTube prevent copies of the same content from being uploaded in the future. Additionally, we will be hosting a webform in our help center to enable interested parties to reach out to us for licensing discussions. 


We continue to find new ways to help creators and rightsholders manage their rights on YouTube while growing the amounts we pay to the creative industries and will continue to work with policymakers, rights owners, partners and creators across the region to ensure an effective implementation of the new copyright laws. 

Experience the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with Google and YouTube

While some of the Tokyo 2020 Games are over, others are just beginning: The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are right around the corner. And just like earlier this summer, there are few ways you can enjoy the action from home. 


1. Watch livestreams and highlights on YouTube
Starting August 24, catch livestreams as well as clips and highlights from 13 official Paralympic broadcasters around the world on their YouTube channels. The Paralympic Games channel will also be streaming over 1,300 hours of live sports across 219 countries and territories, as well as sharing highlights, athlete interviews and behind-the-scenes videos with automatic captions available in 13 languages. Livestreams will also be accessible with automatic captions in English.


2. Stay up to speed with Google Search
Find the latest information on your favorite team and Paralympians, and even see where your country ranks in the race for gold. If you can’t tune into the Paralympics live, don’t worry — you can watch a daily recap video, check out the top news related to the events and with Google Images, even see photo galleries of some of the best photos of the day.  For data lovers, check out our Trends page to see fun Search stats on your favorite sports. And, for a limited time only, keep an eye out for a fun surprise when searching for the Paralympics — I can’t say too much, I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun!

Screenshot of the Google Search Result Page for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

3. Experience Déjà-mew on the Doodle Champion Island Games
Are you (still) feline Lucky? Lucky the Cat is back in our interactive Doodle game! Click on the Doodle to enter the gameworld, join a team and compete against reigning Champions across table tennis, archery, rugby and more. Keep a lookout for competitors and characters with disabilities and without, dozens of surprises and side quests as you journey through Doodle Champion Island, where there are some new levels and extra quests…if you’re up for the challenge.

Image of the Doodle Champion Island Games

4. Stay up to date with the Google Assistant
If you want to learn more about the Paralympics, just say, “Hey Google, give me a Paralympics fact.” Find out which country has the most medals or how your country is doing with "Hey Google, who is leading the Paralympics medal table." You can even ask, “Hey Google, what do you like about the Paralympics?” available in all languages. Whether you’re using your phone, speaker, TV or other enabled device, Google Assistant will have all the important details.


5. Capture the moment with heartwarming Tenor GIFs
The IPC are also working with expression platform Tenor to showcase the very best of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Find incredible moments from the world’s Paralympians on Tenor’s Paralympics channel.


And now, all we have to do is wait for the games to begin.

Giving kids and teens a safer experience online

We're committed to building products that are secure by default, private by design, and that put people in control. And while our policies don’t allow kids under 13 to create a standard Google account, we’ve worked hard to design enriching product experiences specifically for them, teens, and families. Through Family Link, we allow parents to set up supervised accounts for their children, set screen time limits, and more. Our Be Internet Awesome digital literacy program helps kids learn how to be safe and engaged digital citizens; and our dedicated YouTube Kids app, Kids Space and teacher approved apps in Play offer experiences that are customized for younger audiences. 


Technology has helped kids and teens during the pandemic stay in school through lockdowns and maintain connections with family and friends. As kids and teens spend more time online, parents, educators, child safety and privacy experts, and policy makers are rightly concerned about how to keep them safe. We engage with these groups regularly, and share these concerns. 


Some countries are implementing regulations in this area, and as we comply with these regulations, we’re looking at ways to develop consistent product experiences and user controls for kids and teens globally. Today, we’re announcing a variety of new policies and updates:


Giving minors more control over their digital footprint

While we already provide a range of removal options for people using Google Search, children are at particular risk when it comes to controlling their imagery on the internet. In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce a new policy that enables anyone under the age of 18, or their parent or guardian, to request the removal of their images from Google Image results. Of course, removing an image from Search doesn’t remove it from the web, but we believe this change will help give young people more control of their images online. 


Tailoring product experiences for kids and teens 

Some of our most popular products help kids and teens explore their interests, learn more about the world, and connect with friends. We’re committed to constantly making these experiences safer for them. That’s why in the coming weeks and months we're going to make a number of changes to Google Accounts for people under 18:


  • YouTube: We’re going to change the default upload setting to the most private option available for teens ages 13-17. In addition we’ll more prominently surface digital wellbeing features, and provide safeguards and education about commercial content. Learn more about these changes here. 

  • Search: We have a range of systems, tools and policies that are designed to help people discover content from across the web while not surprising them with mature content they haven’t searched for. One of the protections we offer is SafeSearch, which helps filter out explicit results when enabled and is already on by default for all signed-in users under 13 who have accounts managed by Family Link. In the coming months, we’ll turn SafeSearch on for existing signed-in users under 18 and make this the default setting for teens setting up new accounts. 

  • Assistant: We are always working to prevent mature content from surfacing during a child’s experience with Google Assistant on shared devices, and in the coming months we’ll be introducing new default protections. For example, we will apply our SafeSearch technology to the web browser on smart displays.

  • Location History: Location History is a Google account setting that helps make our products more useful. It's already off by default for all accounts, and children with supervised accounts don’t have the option of turning Location History on. Taking this a step further, we’ll soon extend this to users under the age of 18 globally, meaning that Location History will remain off (without the option to turn it on).

  • Play: Building on efforts like content ratings, and our "Teacher-approved apps" for quality kids content, we're launching a new safety section that will let parents know which apps follow our Families policies. Apps will be required to disclose how they use the data they collect in greater detail, making it easier for parents to decide if the app is right for their child before they download it. 

  • Google Workspace for Education: As we recently announced, we’re making it much easier for administrators to tailor experiences for their users based on age (such as restricting student activity on YouTube). And to make web browsing safer, K-12 institutions will have SafeSearch technology enabled by default, while switching to Guest Mode and Incognito Mode for web browsing will be turned off by default.


New advertising changes

We’ll be expanding safeguards to prevent age-sensitive ad categories from being shown to teens, and we will block ad targeting based on the age, gender or interests of people under 18. We’ll start rolling out these updates across our products globally over the coming months. Our goal is to ensure we’re providing additional protections and delivering age-appropriate experiences for ads on Google.


New digital wellbeing tools 

In Family Link, parents can set screen time limits and reminders for their kids’ supervised devices. And, on Assistant-enabled smart devices, we give parents control through Digital Wellbeing tools available in the Google Home app. In the coming months, we’ll roll out new Digital Wellbeing filters that allow people to block news, podcasts, and access to webpages on Assistant-enabled smart devices.


On YouTube, we’ll turn on take a break and bedtime reminders and turn off autoplay for users under 18. And, on YouTube Kids we’ll add an autoplay option and turn it off by default to empower parents to make the right choice for their families. 

Transparency Resources: The Family Link Privacy Guide for Children and Teens and the Teen Privacy Guide

Improving how we communicate our data practices to kids and teens
Data plays an important role in making our products functional and helpful. It’s our job to make it easy for kids and teens to understand what data is being collected, why, and how it is used. Based on research, we’re developing engaging, easy-to-understand materials for young people and their parents to help them better understand our data practices. These resources will begin to roll out globally in the coming months. 


Ongoing work to develop age assured product experiences

We regularly engage with kids and teens, parents, governments, industry leaders, and experts in the fields of privacy, child safety, wellbeing and education to design better, safer products for kids and teens. Having an accurate age for a user can be an important element in providing experiences tailored to their needs. Yet, knowing the accurate age of our users across multiple products and surfaces, while at the same time respecting their privacy and ensuring that our services remain accessible, is a complex challenge. It will require input from regulators, lawmakers, industry bodies, technology providers, and others to address it – and to ensure that we all build a safer internet for kids. 


Posted by Mindy Brooks, General Manager, Kids and Families

YouTube Shorts Fund and 7 other ways to earn money and build Your Business on YouTube


Earlier today, Robert Kyncl, Youtube’s Chief Business Officer announced the launch of the YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100M fund distributed over 2021-2022. Each month, we’ll invite thousands of eligible creators to claim a payment from the Fund. This is the first step in our journey to build a monetization model for Shorts on YouTube and any creator that meets our eligibility criteria can participate. We’re excited about what this means for creators in India. Not only does the Shorts Fund reward the next generation of mobile creators for their original contributions to Shorts, it also offers them a new way to earn money and build a business on YouTube. 

YouTube has helped a growing community of Indian creators and artists to transform their creativity into viable businesses. Along with the YouTube Partner Program, which is our unique business model that shares the majority of revenue generated on the platform with creators, YouTube has continued investing in new monetization options for creators beyond advertising, including Merchandise, Channel Memberships, Super Chats and Super Stickers. We have seen a demonstrable impact of these revenue sources, with over 100% growth in creator revenue in India coming from features like Super Chat, Super Stickers, Channel Memberships and Merchandise between February and May 2020. 


In addition to the Shorts Fund, here are 7 ways in which creators can continue to earn more revenues from their content on YouTube and build robust businesses.


  1. Ads

Ads have been at the core of creators’ revenue streams, and continue to be the main way that creators can earn money on YouTube. Once in YPP, creators can decide which videos to turn on ads for. In addition to our Community Guidelines, videos must meet our Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines to be eligible for ads. Creators receive the majority of the revenue generated from ads on YouTube.


  1. YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is a paid subscription option which enables members to enjoy ad-free content, background playback, downloads, exclusive content and premium access to the YouTube Music app. The majority of subscription revenue goes to YouTube partners. 


  1. Merchandise

The merch shelf allows channels to showcase their official branded merchandise right on their watch page on YouTube. 


Bhuvan Bam launched his everyday streetwear brand, Youthiapa, in 2017 after building an enviable subscriber base for BB Ki Vines in just two years since he began uploading comedy sketches to YouTube. Today, more than 20.7M of his subscribers can browse for their favourite merchandise from tees to caps and even masks right by accessing his store on the channel.


When Garden Up’s Ekta was looking to grow her home decor and gardening accessories business, she introduced the YouTube Merch Shelf and displayed the Store tab on her channel, allowing her to showcase her products to her 1.28M subscribers.


  1. Super Chat 

Fans watching livestreams and Premieres can purchase a Super Chat: a highlighted message in the chat stream that stands out from the crowd to get even more of their favorite creator’s attention. Samay Raina emerged as one of the most subscribed chess streamers in India, clocking  over 100M views for his content that sits at the intersection of chess game play and comedy. Samay not only supercharged interest in an age-old game, but has also increased his earnings from his YouTube channel at a time when revenues from on-ground gigs had come to a halt, building an engaged community of fans, with Super Chat.


With Super Chat, our leading gaming creators including Dynamo Gaming, MortaL, and Gamerfleet have taken their livestreams to the next level, creating immersive and interactive experiences for their audiences while monetizing their channel. 


  1. Super Stickers

Another way followers can show support during livestreams and Premieres is with Super Stickers, which allows fans to purchase a fun sticker that stands out. We have seen creators such as Payal Gaming, Natasha Gaming and Curlbury use Super Stickers to great effect. 


  1. Channel memberships

With channel memberships, creators can offer exclusive perks and content to viewers who join their channel as a monthly paying member at prices set by the creator. Nitin Bhatia, a creator who is also a full-time trader, utilizes channel memberships to share exclusive educational videos on stocks, real estate and personal finance with his members. He has seen almost a 6X increase in YouTube revenue within 18 months. 


Among Carnatic musician Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s growing subscribers are Indians living abroad who have found a unique way to connect with their culture through his channel. Every month, he enthralls his audience with Sanjay Sabha that includes exclusive access to a special concert each month and early preview to his other videos.


  1. Super Thanks

Viewers can give thanks and appreciation on uploaded videos as well through Super Thanks, the newest member of the Supers family. Super Thanks enables fans to support their favorite channels, while giving creators access to a new source of revenue. As an added bonus, fans will get a distinct, colorful comment to highlight the purchase, which creators can respond to. We’re excited to see how our creators will use Super Thanks to  keep their connections with (super) fans meaningful! 


Every new fan that subscribes to their favourite creators’ channels, every new member that joins, every like, comment received and every rupee earned goes into building the business ventures of tomorrow. At YouTube, the passion and ambition of our creators fuels us to continue innovating new ways to help them realise their goals and we are committed to introducing more revenue opportunities for our creators.  


Posted by Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Partnerships, India

Get ready for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with Google and YouTube

In a few hours, the best athletes from around the world will come together in Tokyo to compete on the world's largest stage. While everyone on the ground prepares for the matches and meets, we’re getting ready, too. 


We hope technology can help everyone enjoy the Games safely at a distance this year. Here are six ways Google is helping bring you all the action from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020:


1. Stay up to speed (without breaking a sweat) with Google Search

When you search for the Olympics you’ll be able to find the latest information on your favorite events, sports and players, and even see where your country ranks in the race for gold. If you can’t tune into the Games live, don’t worry — you can watch a daily recap video or check out the top news related to the Olympic Games. For data aficionados, check out our Trends page to see fun Search stats on your favorite sports.


2. Take a timeout with the Doodle Champion Island Games

Join in on the action with our largest-ever interactive Doodle game, created in collaboration with Japanese animation STUDIO 4°C. Click on the Doodle to enter the gameworld, join a team and compete against reigning Champions across skateboarding, rugby, climbing and more — all in retro 16-bit glory. Keep a lookout for dozens of surprises and side quests as you journey through Doodle Champion Island. 

Image of the Doodle Champion Island game

3. Find official broadcaster highlights (and more) on YouTube and Google TV

From July 23, catch live events as well as clips and highlights from official Olympic broadcasters, including Marca Claro and Eurosport, around the world on their YouTube channels.  In the U.S, YouTube TV will also show NBCUniversal’s live coverage of Tokyo 2020 and there’s tons more to watch on the official Olympics channel on YouTube. Earlier this month, we added Olympic-related content on YouTube with new YouTube Originals series "Strive," "How To Olympics," "Break the Record" and a feature-length documentary "World Debut" ahead of opening ceremonies.


Google TV users can head to the For you tab and open the Olympics page to find apps from official broadcasters and tune into live streams and missed events, or be inspired by popular sports movies, sports shows, videos on Japan and more.


4. Let Google Assistant do the legwork

Wondering who won? Just ask “Hey Google, who won women’s basketball in the Olympics?” Rooting for a specific country? “Hey Google, how many medals does France have in the Olympics?” You can even say, “Hey Google, tell me a fun fact about the games in Tokyo.” Whether you’re using your phone, speaker, TV or other enabled device, Google Assistant will have all the important details.


Plus, in the U.S., NBC is bringing an exclusive game to the Google Assistant. It’s already available on all devices, so test your summer sports knowledge with dozens of trivia questions. Just say “Hey Google, play NBC Sports Trivia” to start your quest for trivia gold.


5. Keep up to date with Google Play apps

Don’t miss a single moment: Download our collection of apps including the official Olympics app, official broadcasters, news organizations, social, sports and games, plus fitness.


6. Explore Japan with Street View, Google Arts & Culture and Translate

Even if you can’t experience the Games IRL, you can take a virtual tour of the country with Google Street View. From snow-capped mountains and glistening cave formations to cities packed with history and culture — you can see it all without leaving your chair. Or with Google Arts & Culture you can explore Japan’s traditional crafts and mouth-watering food; Umami Land will be particularly fun for foodies. After all that, you might feel inspired to learn a little Japanese, and Google Translate has you covered.


Good luck to all the athletes taking part, and let the games begin!