What is AdSense?
A lot of people know AdSense as a way to put ads on their website or YouTube channel and make a profit on their content. From what I know so far, it seems to be the only way to monetize your YouTube channel. There aren't really any websites quite like YouTube out there (yet), especially not ones that pay you for your content. So most content creators turn to YouTube to make money from the hard work they put into their videos.
So what if you lose the ability to use AdSense?
This is the main question I want to talk about in this post, because it's relevant to me. About a year ago, I moved from New York to Ontario, Canada. I started monetizing my YouTube videos about half a year before I moved, if even. I remembered requesting a pin to verify my address and I think that I just never got it. And then I probably forgot about it. I only payed attention to my YouTube and didn't really visit my AdSense page because I knew I didn't have nearly enough profit to collect my earnings.
Then, I moved. I moved to another country. Recently I've decided I want to start making quality videos. To really work on my skills, and start talking in front of the camera, and I decided it would be cool if I could monetize it. I go to my AdSesnse and try to change my address info. It says that it doesn't support switching to Canada. I do some research and find out that I need to delete my old account and create a new one one with my current country. I go to delete my account and it won't let me because the threshold is over $10. I've made $12. I could cash this out, but I don't live in the states anymore. I also find out my address was never verified. There's nothing I can do.
I made a post on the support forums.
This was after I tried to reach out to multiple people and to find out how to reach support. It turns out that there isn't actually a way to contact them directly, or to put a ticket in. At this point I'm frustrated, and it shows a bit in my post. Yeah, maybe a bit 'immature' but it's exactly how I felt. And looking at all the other posts reaching out for help, none of them had received help anyways. None of them.
This is the first reply that I received. And this about sums up the amount of support that you can get on AdSense. I kind of stalked this guys profile, and this is how he answers everyone. He is also considered a "master reply".
I replied to him saying that giving up was definitely the reason I posted on the forums in the first place. I mean that's great advice, right? Just give up. I didn't give up. I decided to create another account and disconnect the current one from my channel. Believe it or not, my submitted application got approved. I replied on the forums, letting anyone that was reading know, that I had managed to create another AdSense account. Yet another reply:
Will communities like Steemit open up new opportunities for content creators to get paid?
I think we all know the answer to this one. Yes, it will. We need an alternative to AdSense. Maybe YouTube will expand their horizons in the future and accept crytpocurrency? This is highly unlikely, but would definitely be interesting to see. It would probably be quite beneficial as well. It would help people like me, who have lost the ability to monetize their content on YouTube due to a simple error. An error that even a bank would help resolve. I'm going to make my videos whether I get paid or not. It's what I want to do. That's what most YouTubers are doing. Something they want to do. But, it's also something they should be able to properly get paid for. Their videos take time and effort.
I think that in the future, AdSense won't be relevant anymore.
What do you think?
YouTube image royalty free from www.pixabay.com
Other images from public forum on Google.