Feature eligibility

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The Feature eligibility tab as it appears in YouTube Studio's settings

While channels on YouTube are by default allowed to upload videos to the platform, there are certain limits that are placed upon new or unverified channels. A channel may be eligible for new features if they finish the verification steps necessary in the Feature eligibility tab inside their YouTube Studio settings inside the "Channel" tab.

Previous feature levels takes precedence over the next one, for example, if someone has an active Community Guideline strike, the channel will be ineligible for the Standard feature level, overriding any feature introduced in subsequent levels,^{[citation needed]} same applies to the latter levels.^{[citation needed]}

Note that this is different from the Verification Badge that appears besides YouTuber's names.

Feature levels

YouTube's feature eligibility is divided into three levels.

Feature comparison table (expandable/collapsible)

	Features	No verification	Verification via phone number	Verification via channel history or identity
Standard	Upload videos	✓ Limited daily limit		✓ Higher daily limit
	Create a playlist	✓
	Community tab	✓ Limited daily limit		✓ Higher daily limit
Intermediate	Longer videos (above 15 minutes)		✓
	Live streaming on a computer		✓ Limited daily limit	✓ Higher daily limit
	Customized thumbnails		✓ Limited daily limit	✓ Higher daily limit
	Create a podcast		✓
Advanced	Content ID appeal			✓
	Embed live streams			✓
	Apply for monetisation			✓ + Eligibility requirements
	Add clickable links to your long-form video description and Community posts			✓
	Add a related video to your YouTube Short		✓	✓
	Pin comments on videos and Community posts			✓
	RSS upload			✓
	Add clickable links to your channel details on the watch page or posts			✓
	Add chapters			✓

Standard features

By default, all new channels are given the Standard features level of eligibility.

Features

This level of eligibility grants the channel the ability to:

• Upload videos with a daily posting limit.
• Create playlists.
• Add collaborators to playlists.
• Add new videos to existing playlists.
• Access to the Community tab with a daily posting limit.

Requirements

The requirements for this eligibility level is the channel being free of active Community Guideline strikes, which may be imposed if the YouTuber fails to comply with it.

Intermediate features

The Intermediate features level offer the most common video promotion feature, which are custom thumbnails. This feature level is often considered to be the most basic feature level for a legitimate YouTube channel.^{[citation needed]}

Features

This level of eligibility grants the channel the ability to:

• Upload videos longer than 15 minutes.
• Use and set custom user-uploaded thumbnails for their videos with a daily limit.
  • Beforehand, the channel must pick one from the three auto-generated thumbnails taken from the video's frames chosen by YouTube.
• Live stream on the platform with a limited daily limit.
• Upload podcasts.

Requirements

The page if the channel's phone number has already been verified.

The requirements for this eligibility level is by verifying a phone number to YouTube at youtube.com/verify. YouTube will send an SMS containing a code that the user will need to enter on the page to get their number verified, or an automated voice call delivering the code.

If the channel already has a verified phone number associated with it, the page will say "Your phone number has already been verified".

Advanced features

The Advanced features is the last and most complete feature level a regular channel can be eligible of in the platform.

Features

• The option to dispute the Content ID claim.
• The "Earn" monetization tab.

1/2

This level of eligibility grants the channel the ability to:

• Appeal for Content ID claims.
• Embed live streams in external websites.
• Apply for YouTube's monetization program.
• Allowing URLs on video descriptions, Community posts, and channel details to be clickable in the form of links.
  • Posting URLs on YouTube is allowed before the feature level, however they appear as plain text and is not clickable.
• Add a related video to YouTube Shorts.
• Pin comments on videos and Community posts.
• Allow the usage of YouTube's RSS feed to publish podcasts.
• Add video chapters.

Additionally, the channel will have a higher daily limit on these features:

• Video uploads.
• Community posts.
• Live streams.
• Custom thumbnails, specifically, the setting of them on individual videos.

Requirements

The channel must complete any of the three verification methods to achieve this eligibility level:

1. A video verification of the individual behind the channel submitted to YouTube.
   • The user must first select the video verification method, then acquire an email address given by Google for the verification process. The verification takes form of the person following instructions like following a dot or turning their head towards a direction. After the video is submitted, the review process will begin, usually within 24 hours. The user will receive an email once their verification is approved.
2. An identity card verification of the individual behind the channel submitted to YouTube.
   • A valid identity proof must be submitted to Google to gain verification this way. Valid forms of identification may be the personal ID of the individual, their passport, or their driver's license. The information received by Google is to primarily verify the date of birth of the individual, which must be the same as the date of birth set on the associated Google account. After acknowledging a disclaimer and uploading the proof, the review process will begin, usually within 24 hours. The user will then be eligible for the feature level.
3. Having enough channel history
   • This is the easiest and longest verification method. The YouTuber simply need to post and engage within YouTube within a certain amount of time to build a sufficient channel history YouTube deems enough for the eligibility level. This process takes approximately 2 months assuming an active-enough channel or sufficient engagement from viewers. The process, requirements, and thresholds for this verification method is unknown.

For verification methods 1 and 2, YouTube and Google will delete the associated verification media after at minimum 2 months to a maximum of 2 years after the verification process is done.

References

All feature information is sourced from YouTube's support page: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9890437