YouTube now hides when a channel is monetized through the Partner Program

Ben Schoon | Dec 12 2023 - 9:15 am PT

After years of making monetization status publicly available, YouTube now hides channels that are enrolled in its Partner Program.

The YouTube Partner Program allows channels and creators to make money off their videos by getting a split of the ad or Premium subscriber revenue generated by their viewers. It’s one of the aspects that has made YouTube the powerful force that it is today.

But, as WIRED reports, YouTube has recently changed its website to hide the monetization status of channels.

This status was never broadcast in a user-facing format but could instead be found through a block of code on YouTube.com. Third-party tools have made use of that code to surface whether a channel was a part of the Partner Program, but that information is now simply gone.

Speaking to WIRED, YouTube confirmed that “whether someone is earning ad revenue share is a fact YouTube intends to keep private with the channel owner.”

While it’s not exactly clear when this information was removed, the developer of the tool “Is This Channel Monetized” claims it was around November 17 of this year, which was amid YouTube’s crackdown on ad blockers. The tool has since started using clues such as subscriber figures, ads on videos, and the use of tools such as “Super Thanks” to determine if a channel is monetized through the YouTube Partner Program.