What is a policy?
A policy is a set of rules that specify how a content owner wants YouTube to handle a claimed video.
When you claim a video, you assert ownership over the (audio, visual, or audiovisual) content of the video. As an owner, you choose whether users can view the video and whether YouTube displays advertisements with the video. You say how you want YouTube to handle the video by associating a policy with it.
You can handle a claimed video in one of three ways:
- Monetize: Allow users to view the video and display advertisements with it
- Track: Allow users to view the video without advertisements; collect statistics about video views
- Block: Disable users from viewing the video on YouTube
A policy consists of one or more if-then rules that collectively determine which of the three actions to take. For example, a policy that monetizes the video for viewers in the United States and Canada and blocks it for the rest of the world consists of two if-then rules:
| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
| (1) If the user’s location is the United States or Canada | Monetize the video |
| (2) If the user’s location is elsewhere | Block the content |
The user’s location is the most common condition for a policy rule, although other conditions are available for policies used with YouTube’s Content ID system; see Usage policies and match policies for details.
YouTube provides three predefined policies: Monetize in all countries, Track in all countries, and Block in all countries. You can create custom policies for more granular control over your content; see Create custom policies for details.
YouTube associates a policy with a video whenever someone claims the video. When a video has multiple valid claims and therefore multiple valid policies associated with it, YouTube applies whichever policy results in the most restrictive action. If one policy says to monetize the video and another says to block it, YouTube blocks the video. See Which policy applies? for more details about how YouTube determines which policy to apply to a given video.
Usage policies and match policies
There are two categories of policies:
- A usage policy is a policy you associate with a video that you upload yourself or manually claim using the descriptive search feature.
- A match policy is a policy that YouTube’s Content ID system associates with a video it identifies as matching the reference file for one of your assets.
If you are not registered for YouTube’s Content ID system, all of your policies are usage policies.
Usage policies and match policies differ in how they get associated with the video (by you or by Content ID), not in what they do. Both consist of if-then rules that determine whether to monetize, track, or block the claimed video. In many cases, the very same policy serves as a usage policy for your partner-uploaded videos and as a match policy for user-uploaded videos.
Using auto-claim criteria
Because Content ID associates match policies automatically, a match policy can include auto-claim criteria in its rules. A match policy can monetize, track, or block a claimed video based on:
- The location of the viewer (the only criteria available for usage policies)
- The type of content that matches your reference file: audio only, video only, or both
- The amount of the uploaded video that matches your reference file, specified as a length of time like 2:13 (two minutes and 13 seconds) or as a percentage like 80%
- The amount of your reference file that matches the uploaded video, as a length of time or a percentage
Policies that use auto-claim criteria also have the option to route the automatically claimed video for a manual review.
For example, you can create a match policy that monetizes any user-uploaded video whose audio track matches your sound recording for more than one minute and tracks videos containing 30 to 60 seconds of your recording.
| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
| (1) If the amount of the user’s video that matches my asset is more than 60 seconds | Monetize the video |
| (2) If the amount of the user’s video that matches is between 30 and 60 seconds | Track the video |
If you upload music videos, you can create a policy that blocks videos matching your audiovisual content and monetizes videos matching only the audio track.
| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
| (1) If the type of content that matches my asset is audiovisual | Block the video |
| (2) If the type of content that matches my asset is audio only | Monetize the video |
Which policy applies?
YouTube associates a policy with a video whenever someone claims it. Which policy YouTube applies to the video depends on how the claim is made and whether any other partner has claimed the same video.
- When you claim a video that you’ve uploaded to a channel you own, YouTube uses the policy identified as the default usage policy.
- When the YouTube Content ID system claims a user-uploaded video, it automatically uses the reference match policyfor the asset making the claim. If the asset doesn’t have an associated match policy, YouTube uses the policy identified as the default match policy.
- When you claim a video using descriptive search, you manually choose which policy to associate with the claim.
You can manually override the policy associated with a claim, replacing it with any policy that doesn’t use auto-claim criteria.
More than one partner can have a valid claim on the same video in the same territory. For example, one partner may claim the visual portion and another partner the audio portion. When multiple partners have valid claims on a video, YouTube associates a policy from each partner with the video, according to the rules described above. When a video has multiple valid claims and therefore multiple valid policies, YouTube applies whichever policy results in the most restrictive action. If one policy says to monetize the video and another says to block it, YouTube blocks the video.
Create custom policies
YouTube provides three predefined policies: Monetize in all countries, Track in all countries, and Block in all countries. You can create custom policies for more granular control over your content. Custom policies enable you to customize where YouTube makes your content available or in which regions YouTube will monetize your content.
Creating and saving custom policies enables you to easily apply the same policy rules to many videos. When you subsequently make a change to a policy, the change automatically propagates to the claims using that policy.
To create a custom policy:
- From the Content ID section of the Dashboard, choose Policies.
The page lists previously created policies. If you haven’t yet created custom policies, the list shows the three predefined policies Monetize in all countries, Track in all countries, and Block in all countries, with Monetize in all countries as the default match and usage policy.
- Click the New Policy btn.
Or, if you already have a policy similar to the one you want to create, select that policy in the list, and select Duplicatefrom the Action drop-down list.
- Enter a name and description for the new policy.
Use a name that summarizes the policy’s action and clearly distinguishes it from your other policies. For example, an appropriate title for a policy that will be used to monetize content in France would be
Monetize only in FR. - Define the if-then rules that specify which action to apply to the claimed video.
Each rule consists of an action and the conditions under which to apply that action. To define the rules:
- Choose the action from the Additional rule drop-down list in the upper right of the gray rule box. The available actions are Monetize, Block, Track, and Route for review.
- Click Add condition and select the basis for the condition from the drop-down list. If you’re creating a policy to apply as a usage policy, the only valid option is Viewer location. The other options are relevant only for match policies. See Usage policies and match policies for more information.
- Choose the comparison operator.
- Enter or choose the value to compare it to.
- To add another clause to the condition, click the + btn and repeat steps b to d in the new row that appears. When a condition has multiple clauses, the rule applies only when all of the clauses are met.
- To add another rule, click Additional rule and repeat steps a through e.
- To create a policy whose rules take effect or change at a particular time, click Schedule change and define the new set of if-then rules.
In addition to defining the rules, you also enter an effective date and time in the text boxes next to the clock icon.
- Click the Save btn to create the policy.
The new policy appears on the Policies page and is ready to apply.
Route claims for manual review
Since YouTube’s Content ID system claims user-uploaded videos automatically, without human intervention, you have the option to require a manual review before the claim becomes active.
To require a manual review, you create a match policy that specifies the conditions under which you want to review the claim. For example, you might want someone to verify a claim on a video that Content ID identifies as matching your asset for less than 50% of its running time.
| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
| (1) If the amount of the user’s video that matches my asset is more than 50% | Monetize the video |
| (2) If the amount of the user’s video that matches is less than 50% | Monetize the video and route the claim for review |
When Content ID identifies a match, it provisionally claims the video and associates the match policy with it. If the applicable matching condition specifies to route the claim for review, the claim appears in your list of To Do items. The claim is in place but remains inactive until you review the claim.
Set default policies
YouTube applies a default policy in situations where you don’t explicitly apply a different policy. For example, YouTube applies the default usage policy to videos that you upload to your channels, and Content ID applies your default match policy when it claims videos for an asset that doesn’t have a designated match policy. Setting default policies speeds up the process of uploading and claiming content.
You specify both a default usage policy and a default match policy. If you don’t select a default policy, YouTube uses the predefined policy Monetize Everywhere.
To set the default policies:
- From the Content ID section of the Dashboard, choose Policies.
The page lists the three predefined policies and any custom policies you’ve created. The currently selected default policies are identified with boxes to the right of the policy name.
- Click the check box next to the policy you want to apply to videos you upload to your own channels.
- From the Action drop-down list, select Default usage.
- Click the check box next to the policy you want to apply to to videos that Content ID claims.
- From the Action drop-down list, select Default match.
Change or delete policies
A key advantage of creating and saving custom policies is that any changes you make to a policy automatically propagate to all claims that use the policy.
When you edit a policy, you have the option to schedule the time when your changes take effect. For example, you can create a policy that applies one set of rules this year and a different set of rules next year.
To edit or delete a policy:
- From the Content ID section of the Dashboard, choose Policies.
The page lists the three predefined policies and any custom policies you’ve created.
- Click the check box next to the policy you want to change.
- To delete the policy, click the Delete btn (and skip the rest of the steps).
The Delete action is not available if you’ve selected one of the predefined policies or a policy that is currently in use.
- To change the policy, click the Edit btn to display the policy details.
- Update the policy details as necessary, by following the same steps you did when you created the policy.
- Click Save to save your changes.
