COPPA and "Made for Kids": What It Means for Your Channel's Monetization

COPPA — the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act — is the reason YouTube requires every channel and video to be designated as either "Made for Kids" or not. It's not optional, and getting it wrong can carry real consequences from both YouTube and regulators.

What changes when content is Made for Kids

• Personalized advertising is turned off, which typically lowers ad revenue per view
• Comments, notifications, and some community features are disabled or limited
• Certain data collection used for personalization and remarketing is restricted

How the designation gets decided

YouTube asks creators to set this at both the channel and video level, based on factors like subject matter, whether the content features children, and how it's likely to be perceived by an actual audience — not just the creator's intent.

Why this matters for a network relationship

Any partner network should be handling Made for Kids content according to YouTube's own rules, not working around them. If a network suggests they can somehow monetize kids' content the way non-kids content is monetized, that's a red flag, not a feature.