Transparency Report

YouTube Copyright Transparency Report

Introduction

YouTube offers a suite of copyright management tools that gives rightsholders control of their copyrighted material on YouTube. These tools have allowed creativity to thrive, while giving creators and artists the tools and resources needed to manage their content online. The Copyright Transparency Report shares information about the copyright enforcement efforts on YouTube. The report covers Everyone Has Access, Creating a Balanced Ecosystem, and Our Tools Are Cutting Edge.

At YouTube, supporting the free flow of ideas and creativity is core to our mission to give everyone a voice and show them the world. With this in mind, we build tools that empower users to access, create, and share information like never before — giving them more choice, opportunity, and exposure to a diversity of viewpoints. Today, billions of logged-in users come to YouTube every month and in 2023, more people created content on YouTube than ever before.

YouTube has also given rightsholders opportunities to earn money from both their own and user-uploaded content through our subscription-based and advertising-supported models. Our partnerships with record labels, performing rights organizations, music publishers, television networks, and movie studios generate substantial revenues for the creative industries. YouTube paid more than $70 billion to creators, artists, and media companies in the 3 years prior to January 2024.

YouTube has over 100 million Premium and Music subscribers, including trialers, across 100 countries as of January 2024. Through Content ID, YouTube has created an entirely new revenue stream from ad-supported, user-generated content, paying more than $9 billion to rightsholders from ads alone as of December 2022, from content claimed and monetized through the tool.

$70B+
Paid to creators, artists, and media companies over the 3 years prior to January 2024
$9B+
Ad revenue paid to rightsholders as of December 2022 from content claimed and monetized through Content ID

YouTube’s Copyright Management Suite

Three main tools make up our Copyright Management Suite: the webform, Copyright Match Tool, and Content ID. All of these tools use technology to prevent the reupload of matching content. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and operate these tools.

WebformCopyright Match ToolContent ID
Who it’s forYouTube channels and other rightsholders whose copyrighted content is rarely repostedYouTube channels and other rightsholders whose copyrighted content is occasionally repostedMovie studios, record labels, collecting societies, and others whose copyrighted content is heavily reposted
EligibilityEveryoneMembers of YouTube's Partner Program or rightsholders who have submitted valid removal requestsRightsholders who have demonstrated need of scaled tool, understanding of copyright, and resources to manage complex automated matching system
ResourcesSelfSelfDedicated team w/ expert knowledge
AccessEveryoneOver 3 million channelsOver 7.7K partners
Blocks reuploadsYesYesYes
AutomationMedium: shows matches of removed videosHigh: shows matches of removed videos for all users, and shows matches of videos on own channel for some users, such as those in the YouTube Partner ProgramVery High
AbuseHighLowLow

Webform

All rightsholders have access to the webform, which is a streamlined and efficient way to submit copyright removal requests, and is available in 80 languages. It is designed for infrequent use by creators who hold few copyrights and rarely find their content on YouTube. For the vast majority of rightsholders, the webform is the only tool they need. Nevertheless, creators who have used the webform to remove videos from YouTube have access to powerful features, including the ability to ask YouTube to automatically prevent copies of the removed videos from being reuploaded. Copyright Match Tool will also find potential copies of videos removed through the webform and provide those matches to the claimant.

A portion of the interface for the webform.

Partners with access to Content ID can convert any match (see Content ID below) into a copyright removal request through an "Enterprise Webform" within their Studio Content Manager interface. The Enterprise Webform is a streamlined version of the public webform for experienced claimants who submit large volumes of removal requests for videos that they've found to be potentially infringing their copyright. Separately, a small number of rightsholders and anti-piracy vendors have access to this Enterprise Webform through the Content Verification Program (CVP).

Copyright Match Tool

After extensive collaboration with creators, we found there was a segment of rightsholders who experienced a higher amount of reposting of their copyrighted content and needed to submit more frequent copyright removal requests. With this in mind, we built the Copyright Match Tool to safely bring the power of Content ID matching technology (described in detail below) to more creators and rightsholders.

3M+
Channels on YouTube have access to the Copyright Match Tool

The Copyright Match Tool is available to any YouTube user who has submitted a valid copyright removal request through the webform. Once a takedown request is approved, the Copyright Match Tool starts scanning YouTube uploads for potential matches to the videos reported in the removal request. The tool surfaces these potential matches to the claimant so they can decide what action to take next.

For creators in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), or any channel that has filled out the copyright management tools application and shown a need for an advanced rights management tool, the Copyright Match Tool will also scan for potential matches of their videos on other YouTube channels. Creators who have access to this feature of the Copyright Match Tool simply need to be the first to upload a video to YouTube (they can upload as public, private, or unlisted).

For each video match, the Copyright Match Tool shows the user information on total views, the channel that uploaded it, the percentage of the video that is made of their content, and a few frames of the video. The tool also labels whether only the audio portion of the video generated a match, or if it's only a partial match, meaning content may have been sampled but the video is not a simple re-upload. From this interface, users can choose to archive the match and leave the video up, file a takedown request (with the option to ask YouTube to automatically prevent copies), or contact the uploader.

Content ID

This is our solution for those with the most complex rights management needs, such as movie studios, record labels, and collecting societies. Smaller, independent creators who do not meet the eligibility criteria for Content ID can still access these features through a number of service providers. These service providers manage rights through the system on behalf of others on a daily basis.

YouTube and its Content ID partners enter into an agreement that sets the parameters for the use of the tool and allows YouTube to make appropriate use of the copyright owner's content for the purpose of enabling Content ID to work. Partners provide YouTube with reference files for the works they own, along with metadata such as the title and detailed ownership rights. Based on these references, YouTube creates digital "fingerprints" for the copyright owner's works and conducts automated scans of the platform to determine when content in an uploaded video matches the reference content.

Copyright owners and service providers use YouTube's Studio Content Manager — the interface for managing the use of their content on the platform — to instruct the system to either block, monetize, or track matching content. Rightsholders can choose which policy to apply to a claim: they can leave it up and make money from it; leave it up and track viewing statistics; or block it from being viewed. Between July 2023 and December 2023, rightsholders chose to monetize over 90% of all Content ID claims. The Studio Content Manager interface provides highly granular access control to assist users who have specific, complex, or even conflicting ownership rights. For example, rights and policies may be specific to certain countries, resulting in a video being monetized in one country and blocked in another.

90%+
Content ID claims that are monetized

Reference files that reflect flawed or conflicting ownership data can create issues among Content ID partners. Content ID is designed to address these ownership conflicts among partners and manage disputes with uploaders. In some situations, such as when the system is uncertain whether a claim should be made, the system creates a queue of potential claims that require manual review to be activated. As a result, Content ID requires users to make a high level of operational investment, without which other rightsholders could have their rights impaired and lawful expression could be inappropriately impacted.

Learn more at How YouTube Works

Data Collection Note:
All data in this report is collected between July 2023 through December 2023, unless otherwise annotated as below:

† Data collected as a 'snapshot' in April 2024. Some data, like rate of counter notifications and Content ID disputes, look at "trailing" events. We start with the set of claims or removals made during H2 2023, but disputes and counter notifications continue to accrue after that period because they can be made at any time. For instance, a claim made on November 30, 2023 may have a dispute made on April 1, 2024. For these data points, we have chosen to take a snapshot 3 months after the end of H2 2023.

For previous versions of this report covering Jan 1, 2021 through Dec, 31 2022, refer to the PDF Download Center.