YouTube adds human review layer to improve accuracy of ad eligibility checks

YouTube has announced changes to its content review process aimed at improving the accuracy of monetisation decisions and reducing the need for creators to appeal ad suitability ratings.

Under the current system, videos are reviewed for compliance with YouTube’s advertiser-friendly guidelines upon upload, receiving a green, yellow or red icon to indicate whether the content qualifies for full, limited, or no ads respectively. Until now, creators who disagreed with a yellow icon assessment were required to manually request a review.

The platform will now begin automatically routing videos marked with a yellow icon for an additional review, which may involve human moderation. YouTube says this measure is intended to reduce the number of appeals and increase confidence in final monetisation outcomes.

“Though the process may take longer initially, at times up to 24 hours, the decisions will be more accurate,” YouTube stated. Most cases are expected to resolve within minutes, with extended reviews applying only to a small percentage of uploads.

Creators are advised to upload videos as 'unlisted' or 'private' ahead of publication to allow for review completion without impacting early viewership metrics.

The update comes as YouTube seeks to increase available ad inventory by improving content classification and expanding monetisation opportunities across its platform. Creators will retain the option to appeal decisions following the additional review process.