Google AdSense: Stop Teasing Me with YouTube Revenue Sharing

2010 > America

So my Belly Button Window videos of my worldwide travels, One Laptop Per Child, and my daughter Hanalei, have found quite a following on YouTube. I have several videos with over 5,000 views:

Each time a new video crosses the multi-thousand viewership, YouTube sends me an email like this:

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Dear bellybuttonwindow,

Your video Michael Jackson is Alive! He’s a Traffic Cop in Abuja, Nigeria has become popular on YouTube, and you’re eligible to apply for the YouTube Partnership Program, which allows you to make money from playbacks of your video.

Once you’re approved, making money from your video is easy. Here’s how it works: First sign into your YouTube account. Then, complete the steps outlined here. Once you’re finished, we’ll start placing ads next to your video and pay you a share of the revenue as long as you meet the program requirements.

We look forward to adding your video to the YouTube Partnership Program. Thanks and good luck!
The YouTube Team

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And every time they do, I cuss out Google AdSense. Why? Because one day last summer, Google AdSense sent me the following email, just after they closed my AdSense account (with about $150 in revenue at the time) and locked me out of any future AdSense participation:

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Hello, While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers.

Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we’ve decided to disable your account. Please understand that we consider this a necessary step to protect the interests of both our advertisers and our other AdSense publishers.

We realize the inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation. If you have any questions about your account or the actions we’ve taken, please do not reply to this email.

You can find more information by visiting https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.

Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

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Google AdSense never told me what “significant risk” my account posed or how to correct it. They didn’t give me any information at all in which to base an appeal, which they denied out of hand. To this day, I still have no clue why I am banned for life from Google AdSense.

The only silver lining in my banishment? I found the eBay partner network and am now making 3-4x what I did with Google AdSense.

One Comment on “Google AdSense: Stop Teasing Me with YouTube Revenue Sharing

  1. From: YouTube
    Subject: Apply for revenue sharing for your video OLPC Pedal Power – Human Power Machine for XO Laptop from OLPC Afghanistan

    Dear bellybuttonwindow,

    Your video OLPC Pedal Power – Human Power Machine for XO Laptop from OLPC Afghanistan might be eligible for the YouTube Partnership Program, which allows you to make money from playbacks of your video.

    Making money from your video is easy. Here’s how it works: First sign into your YouTube account. Then, review and complete the steps outlined here:http://www.youtube.com/ivp?v=kTHilzbuORE.

    If your video is approved, we’ll start placing ads next to the video and pay you a share of the revenue as long as you meet the program requirements.

    We look forward to adding your video to the YouTube Partnership Program.

    Thanks and good luck!

    The YouTube Team