Request human review of videos marked "Not suitable for most advertisers"

If your video isn’t suitable for most advertisers, it will have a yellow dollar sign icon next to it: . This article explains how videos get marked “limited” and how to request another review.

A video is marked "Not suitable for most advertisers" if:

Our automated systems think your content isn't suitable for all brands.
Our human experts confirmed that your video doesn't meet our advertiser-friendly content guidelines.

How monetization status gets applied

During the upload process, we use machine learning to figure out if a video meets our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. We also check scheduled live streams. Before the stream goes live, our systems look at the title, description, thumbnail, and tags.

If you’re not sure why your video has the yellow icon, review our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. Make sure to review the video's title, description, thumbnail, and tags. Videos without a title or metadata may not give enough context to help our systems understand if the content is suitable for all advertisers.

When to ask for a review

Check your video against the criteria listed in our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. If your video meets all the criteria for “This content can earn ad revenue,” you should request a review. Learn more about how monetization reviews work.

Appeal an ad suitability restriction

We know that our systems don’t always get it right. If you get a yellow icon and think our systems made a mistake, then you can request a human review. Your review gets sent to an expert and their decisions help our systems get smarter over time.

Note: Deleting and reuploading a video won't help

To submit an appeal:

Sign in to YouTube Studio.
From the left menu, click Content .
Go to the video you want to appeal.
Next to the video, in the Restrictions column, hover over Ad suitability.
Click REQUEST REVIEW. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: You only get the option to appeal if your video is eligible. After you submit an appeal, the text next to the video updates with your appeal status.

Request an additional ad suitability restriction review

Your video may be eligible for one additional human review. To find out whether your video is eligible, use this self-help flow.

Check additional review eligibility

How the appeal process works

When you request a human review, an expert looks at the video. They spend time watching the video and review its content, title, and metadata against our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. Learn more about how monetization reviews work.

When a final decision has been made on your video, you get an email update.

Note: Keep in mind that the video's icon status may change after you submit your video for review. Our systems continue to run their scans until the review is complete.

How long the review takes

We know that these reviews are important to you and your revenue. Human reviews can take up to 7 days. After a review is complete, you get an email with the monetization decision. After your one additional review, the reviewer’s decision is final, and the video’s monetization status won’t change.

Help prevent future ad suitability restrictions

If you want to help prevent future restrictions, during the upload process, you can use the self-certification tool. Learn more about the “Checks” page in our YouTube Self-Certification overview.

Note: Copyright and Ad suitability checks results aren’t final. For example, future manual Content ID claims, copyright strikes, and edits to your video settings may impact your video. If your video’s metadata is changed after publishing and is no longer suitable for ads, new monetization restrictions might be visible in your video list.

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