Set your channel or video’s audience

As a YouTube creator, you are required to set future and existing videos as made for kids or not. Even creators who don’t make content for kids need to set their audience. This will help ensure that we offer the appropriate features on your content.

To help you comply, there are made for kids audience settings on YouTube Studio. You can set your audience:

  • At the channel level, which will set all of your future and existing content as made for kids or not.
  • Or, at the video level. If you choose this option, you’ll need to set each existing and future video as made for kids or not.

Note:

  • We'll make the audience selection tool available to third-party applications and the YouTube API Services in the near future. For now, please use YouTube Studio to upload made for kids content.

Important: Why every creator must set their audience

These changes are required as part of a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and NY Attorney General, and will help you comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and/or other applicable laws. Regardless of your location, we require you to tell us whether or not your videos are made for kids. If you fail to set your audience accurately, you may face compliance issues with the FTC or other authorities, and we may take action on your YouTube account. Learn more about the FTC’s enforcement of COPPA.

A few notes:
  • We use machine learning to help us identify videos that are clearly directed to young audiences. We trust you to set your audience accurately, but we may override your audience setting choice in cases of error or abuse.
  • Do not rely on our systems to set your audience for you because our systems may not identify content that the FTC or other authorities consider to be made for kids.
  • If you need help determining whether or not your content is made for kids, check out this Help Center article or consult legal counsel.
  • Videos that you set as “made for kids” are more likely to be recommended alongside other kids’ videos.
  • If you've already set your audience for your video and YouTube detects error or abuse, you may see your video set as “Set to Made for Kids". You won't be able to change your audience setting. If you think we made a mistake, you can appeal.

Set your channel's audience

Simplify your workflow by selecting a channel setting. This setting will affect existing and future videos. If you choose not to select a channel setting, you’ll be required to identify each video on your channel that’s made for kids. Settings for individual videos will override the channel setting.
This will also restrict certain features on your channel. If you aren’t sure whether or not your videos are made for kids, check out this Help Center article.
  1. Sign in to studio.youtube.com (Web studio only).
  2. On the left menu, click Settings .
  3. Click Channel.
  4. Click the Advanced Settings tab.
  5. Under Audience, select:
    1. “Yes, set this channel as made for kids. I mostly upload content that’s made for kids.”
    2. “No, set this channel as not made for kids. I almost never upload content that’s made for kids.”
    3. “I want to review this setting for every video.”
  6. Click SAVE.

What happens when your content is set as made for kids

We limit data collection and use on made for kids content to comply with the law. This means we need to restrict or disable certain features like comments, notifications, and others.

Most importantly, we don’t serve personalized ads on kids content, as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and/or other applicable laws. Not serving personalized ads on kids content may result in a decrease in revenue for some creators who mark their content as made for kids. We recognize that this won’t be easy for some creators, but these are important steps to take to ensure compliance with COPPA and other applicable laws.

Read below for a list of affected features:

Frequently Asked Questions

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