Senseless, Nonsense called AdSense

I am writing this post with utter frustration. I don’t know what the people in Google are doing and why their systems are so sucked up.

Let me begin by going back to my last post on my YouTube Monetization issue, you might want read about my sufferings here.

http://theritespace.blogspot.in/2014/01/monetizing-video-on-youtube-phew-my.html

 

AdSense  trying to make sense

Now after that ordeal, I was at least happy that my AdSense account was partially approved and that it showed that just AdSense for content review is pending. Oh BTW my adsense account is linked to this blog and not my YouTube Account, so I just gave the AdSense account details to Youtube, because I use the same ID to sign in. So my YouTube account said your account is now linked to the adsense account provided. I was happy that the step one was completed. Whenever I logged in into my Adsense account it used to show me two notifications.

Notification 1 : Your Adsense for content review is pending and your earnings will show up depending on the fact whether its Approved or Disapproved.

Notification 2 : Your YouTube Earnings will be credited to your AdSense account at the 15^th of every month. 

I was also happy about the fact that there was one video on my YouTube account that was monetized and I will at least get peanut payments out of it. I need to tell  that all my content was original and I had about 500 visitors per day on to my blog because i was promoting the blog on all available platforms. 

AdSense no its AdNonSense

Sure, enough after a few days of waiting and logging in and out of my AdSense account and seeing the same notifications every day , Yesterday I received a mail from google Adsense.

As mentioned in our welcome email, we conduct a second review of your AdSense application once AdSense code is placed on your site(s). As a result of this review, we have disapproved your account for the following violation(s):

Issues:
Site does not comply with Google policies 

So I say all these days of waiting has gone down the drain and I am pretty sure no one ever bothered to check the content of the blog or for that matter even read it. Fine, I will have to apply again. Resigned to the fact I go to my YouTube account and the YouTube account shows that your adsense account is connected to, so I click to change AdSense account setting, Google asks me to re confirm my password and it takes me to the page which asks me to resubmit my application for AdSense and the URL link is my blog http://theritespace.blogspot.in/ that makes very little sense to me as I am trying to find out about my YouTube earnings and not my blogger earnings.  Fine, so it’s the URL I used to submit my application in the first place and they are showing it. But since I want to connect my YouTube channel I want to change that URL and Google doesn’t allow it.   

Fine so how do I see my YOUTUBE EARNINGS.  The answer to this question comes in the form of a mail from YouTube the next day.

Dear Gaurav Ail,

You may have recently closed your AdSense account or received an email from adsense-noreply@google.com about your AdSense application being disapproved. Without a valid AdSense account, you cannot participate in YouTube's monetization programs.

To associate an approved AdSense account with YouTube, please visit your Monetization tab. If you are not eligible for this feature and manage your account in CMS, please visit your AdSense Setting.

Wow so since you disapproved my AdSense account because you didn’t find content appealing in my blog you tell me that your monetization of your YouTube account has been stopped and you can do nothing about it. I go to the monetization settings and what do I see there a RED DOT . So since the red dot is there I can’t do anything about it and I mean absolutely nothing, I can’t even switch to a new AdSense account  ( of course I will have to go through this brain draining process again for that ) because there is a bloody RED DOT. 

Senseless AdSense

So my only option is to try and re submit my application using my blog URL even if I want to Monetize the videos on my YouTube account and then wait for some divine intervention for the computers which operate the Google servers to approve my application. Totally Nonsense. I don’t understand why is AdSense required in the first place. I put in a request , you verify my Youtube video every time I upload it. So, you will be putting adverts to it only if the video is with agreement of google guidelines. One of my videos even managed that and was readily monetizing. But, only because the AdSense account got disapproved, you take off all my earnings from YouTube as well. Why can’t google ask for a direct account number to pay the money or make the payments through Paypal. WHY ADSENSE. 

Disapproved after First Approval

The fact of the matter is that Google holds a monopoly in the online advertising market and is being too senseless about it. If I want to monetize my blog or my YouTube account and it’s your platform and you are the only ones who can host adverts there , at least keep a team to analyze the data and verify it. Further why should the URL be static and not changeable. I mean I understand people do tend to make multiple applications, but the point here is that people still do that , but they do that by creating multiple gmail id’s, and what if in the first place someone has done a spelling mistake while typing the URL itself.

Making an Adsense account compulsory for everything and shutting down payments in one platform if the account gets disapproved for CONTENT in another platform is stupid and senseless. Then why give a first stage approval in the first place and allow to connect the YouTube account to it if you mean to disapprove the AdSense account completely and chuck both the connections. I mean I can’t monetize my YouTube content even when i am at a good standing just because I don’t have an approved adsense account , and I can’t even take approval using my YouTube channel just because the URL supplied to you is that of my Blog. This is total nonsense and doesn’t make sense.

I just hope that some other provider is able to break Google’s stranglehold on the online advertising market and make life better for us.

Monetizing a video on YouTube phew - my story so far

How does one monetize a Video on YouTube, well with the kind of trouble Google is giving me, I seriously don’t know what they are looking for. I will post the links to the videos I am facing trouble monetizing at in this post, but first the story.

My First Attempt

Well, it all started one fine day when I thought, why don’t I upload videos to YouTube and start monetizing them. I know I might end up earning pennies, but why not at least give it a shot. So like a good boy I browsed through my hard disc and found a few videos I had shot using my DSLR in the aquarium of Singapore zoo.  I edited a few , patched them up and added some royalty free music to it. Then I uploaded the edited video onto YouTube as it is. All 180MB of it. I patiently saw it uploading on my slow internet connection and finally when it was uploaded I was all happy and excited. I happily clicked on monetization and said yaaaay I monetized my first video on YouTube and then let it be. 

The First video

 

Gmail Interrupts

My happiness doesn’t last for too long. The next morning I receive a mil in my Gmail inbox which says , more information needed in order to monetize your video on YouTube. So, I think well it must be routine procedure. I go to the link and under the monetization tab there is drop down box which ask me 3 options, I choose this is my original content and then  a box appears below it which asks me to give some information about the video. So, I give them the link for the music , I had picked from a royalty free site and tell them where I had captured the video. I wait for a few days, and the video still shows that your monetization request is under review. So now I am thinking, maybe the music was the problem , next time I upload a video I won’t put music.

My Second Attempt 

This time I choose a Video, which is smaller in size and since it has static noise in it I just use a video editor to mute the clip so that anyone who sees or attempts to see the clip doesn’t get a strong jarring noise in his ears. Well, I open my YouTube account and upload it , this video is some 125 MB in size. Again, I wait patiently till the whole thing is uploaded and finally after it is uploaded I click on monetization and that’s it. This time I am sure that Google will monetize it as it has no music, with royalty or royalty free. 

 The Second Video

Gmail Shatters the Peace again

The next day, the same mail on Gmail more information needed in order to monetize your video on YouTube. Now, I start thinking what is problem. I go to my YouTube account repeat the same procedures as above and try and explain in the box provided to answer, that this is a video I shot I have rights for it and since it doesn’t have any music there should be no royalty issue. Further I also explained that since the video had jarring noise I decide to take off the audio in a video editor.  Same thing, even after a few days it still says that request is under review. The first Video as well as the new Video. Now, I am beginning to think that maybe because I took off the sound from the video they might have had a problem. So, I decide the next video is going to be uploaded as it is. No Change whatsoever. 

My Third Attempt.

This time around I select a Video from my hard disc and upload it as it is , no snip snaps, no edits and with the original voices.  This time I am sure that maybe they won’t need any additional information as the video is there with our original voices and lots of disturbance due to static . Once the upload is done YouTube tells me that the video is a bit shaky and I can make it better by using their editor. I refuse and I am about log out thinking that I have hit the jackpot this time around, when  I glance at a  message on YouTube which says learn how to make videos easier for streaming, so I see it and it tells me to use software such as windows movie maker for compression.  I get a bit adventurous and decide that this time I will upload one more video, so I select a video , which is 180 MB in size , compress it to 30 MB  on windows movie maker and then upload it on to YouTube. Now, I am sure that I haven’t made any mistake whatsoever and finally log out feeling good about the whole thing. 

 The Third Video

The Fourth Video

Gmail shatters my dream again.

 Now since I uploaded two videos, both with original sounds and one full and the other compressed , Google decided to save time and send me a combo mail. Saying the same old thing. We have not been able to confirm your commercial use rights to all the elements of your video. We may consider your video(s) for further review provided you verify that you are authorized to commercially use all of the elements of your content. This includes all video, images, music, video game footage, and any other audio or visual elements.  But, the only difference is that the links to both the videos are given in the same mail. I am seriously irritated off now. I mean these are my original videos , I shot them, the voices are original, there is no music, and the videos are one of a kind, there can’t be exact duplicates with the same  framing and the voices. I open my YouTube Account again and repeat the same dahm procedures and start typing in the box. This time I am irritated. I tell Google, that I have shot the video and have altered nothing, in fact I even told them that the voice in the video is mine and if they want I will mail them my voice sample to verify, and if they find a copy of this video in their database they can tell me who uploaded it and I will personally go ahead and SUE the person.

The Mail from YouTube

 

Still waiting

Well I am still waiting for my videos to get monetized, in the meantime, I have thought of a few ideas by which Google can verify that the videos shot are original and shot by the user himself or herself. Here are my list of suggestions to Google. 

Monitoring for possible review

SUGGESTIONS

Google Maps

Ask the person to tell when and where the video was shot and the exact time it was shot, then use your Google maps archive to try and find the person while he is shooting the video. Well this can work only when the user is outdoors, but it will still help. 

Google Glass

Make wearing Google glass compulsory, that way if the video is shot using Google Glass then you can be sure who shot it.  Furthermore, if the wearer of a Google glass is using a DSLR to shoot,  like I did then ask him or her to use Google Glass to record the fact that he or she is recording using a DSLR

NSA or FBI

You are helping them snoop on people, how about asking them to return the favour and ask them to do the verification job, I am sure they will find a way to do that. 

Google Street View

Ask the user to stand near or run with your street view car while shooting the video, so that the street view car can record the person shooting and give you evidence. 

User Undertaking

A signed letter from the user sating that if the video is found to be violating any copyright then the user is liable to pay per click. 

Android Only

Ask the user to record the video using his android phone and his account should be signed in at the time of recording of the video so that you can snoop in and see whether he himself has shot the video or not.

       Well, these are just a few suggestions from my end. I am sure you can find lots of other ways to make life miserable for an honest user, just because there are lots of cheats out there. I Know you have your own set of problems to deal with, but as an up loader, and as a person who has shot those clips , I do have my own right to feel frustrated. Hope, my Videos get monetized soon. I will write another post if and when they do.