If you want to check the monetization status before making the video public, you can upload it as unlisted. A video's classification may change in the first 24-48 hours of upload. It generally stabilizes after 48 hours, but bear in mind that it can change again based on how viewers engage with your video.

In the first few hours of a video upload, we use machine learning to determine if a video meets our advertiser-friendly guidelines. This also applies to scheduled live streams, where our systems look at the title, description, thumbnail, and tags even before the stream goes live.

We know our system doesn’t always get it right, so if you see a yellow icon in your Video Manager and feel our automated systems made a mistake, you can request a human review. Such reviews will help our systems get smarter over time.

If you’re not sure why your video has the yellow icon, review our advertiser-friendly guidelines, not just against the content of the video, but also the title, description, thumbnail, and tags. Additionally, blank videos or videos without a title or metadata likely don’t provide enough context to help our systems understand if the content is suitable for all advertisers, so it may lead to a yellow icon status for the video.

If you believe that your video is suitable for all brands, you can request human review. We receive many requests to monetize videos every day and review these submissions as quickly as possible. Follow these steps to appeal:

1. Sign in to YouTube and go to the video in your Video Manager.
2. Make sure that your content follows the advertiser-friendly guidelines. Keep in mind that advertisers have a choice about where to show their ads.
3. Click Request review and follow the on-screen instructions. You'll only see this option if your video is eligible for appeal. Once you submit, the text next to the video in Video Manager will update with your review's status.
4. You can see your videos that aren't suitable for all advertisers by clicking the drop-down menu next to View in the top right, then choosing Limited or no ads.

When you request a human review (e.g. appeal the current monetization status), the video gets looked at by an expert who spends time watching the video and reviewing the video’s content, title, and metadata against our advertiser-friendly content guidelines.

Keep in mind that the video's icon status may change even after your video is submitted for review. Our systems continue to run their scans until the review has been completed. You'll know when a final decision has been made on your review when you get an email update.

Learn more about monetization icon changes between green and yellow.

We know these reviews are important to you and your revenue, so we strive to review as many videos as humanly possible, as quickly and accurately as possible. Because we’re a platform that has hundreds of millions of videos, we have to set parameters around which videos get reviewed first to make sure we review those videos that are getting substantial traffic.