Gaming Videos in YouTube & Adsense, Allowed or Not?

This is the most frequently asked question made by YouTube users that upload video game walkthroughs, after monetizing them through the regular Youtube partnership by using the Adsense Publisher Network. Monetizing videos this way is certainly not adviced for the long-term, the reasons are detailed below.

WHY YOUTUBE DOES NOT WANT ADSENSE AND GAMING VIDEOS LINKED TOGETHER.

YouTube allowed the creation of Partnerships and Networks mainly for one reason, they wanted to get rid of handling the copyright claims themselves and outsource them to third-party companies. This is why YouTube does not want ANY of its users making money of video game walkthroughs by using Adsense.

FALSE STATEMENTS COMMONLY READ IN FORUMS: You have surely read that you need some sort of written permission from the company that created the video game if you planning to monetize it. In theory, if you are using the recorded playthroughs for commercial purposes you should, however, most companies, if not all, are more than glad to receive free publicity from users [Notice that if you get into a partnership with a YouTube network, you will have that permission stuff sorted out right from the beginning, since it's the Network the one that handles copyright claims]. Getting your Adsense account banned from YouTube is not because you are recording walkthroughs, but because of click fraud made by the users themselves.

Now, if you still want to monetize gaming videos through a regular Adsense account linked to YouTube, then read what Google has to say about it.

THE OFFICIAL WORDS FROM YOUTUBE ON THE MATTER. Video Game and Software Content. It’s important to remark that it all comes down to the video game publisher and they handle content permissions. Our advice is, if you see that the video game belongs to a company that tends to report videos or that they are very rare within YouTube, simply stay away from recording and uploading, just stick to games that you know are from companies that have no trouble with them.

HOW YOUTUBE DEALS WITH VIDEO GAME VIDEOS NOWADAYS. If you have dozens of videos hosted with Adsense monetization, you will see them turned off ($ icon goes grey) automatically. This is mostly to “encourage” you to partner with a gaming network. Yes, earnings won’t be as good as handling ads directly through Adsense, but you won’t have to worry about video monetization getting turned off all the time, or even risking a disabled accountYou can always send an email to the publisher asking for more information on the matter, but take into account that their response will most likely be political, and they’ll tell you that is not allowed to use their video game for commercial purposes through YouTube.

If you start receiving permanent emails from youtube regarding rejected monetizations like the one below, just stop and partner through a network.

At this time, we are unable to approve your video(s) for monetization because we do not have sufficient information regarding your commercial use rights. We may consider your video(s) for review provided you verify that you are authorized to commercially use all of the elements of your content.

Failed Logins and account approvals on hold are not related to the niche, just in case you were wondering.