YouTube Channel Requirements
What a YouTube channel needs to sell: no bought subscribers, active uploads, no strikes, clean monetisation, plus how RPM, geography and niche decide the price.
YouTube channels are the most variable property we buy, because what a channel earns and what it has subscribed are only loosely related. These are the standards, and the things that decide the price.
No fake subscribers
We check every channel thoroughly. If you have ever bought subscribers or views, do not submit the channel. It surfaces in the retention and traffic-source data, and the deal will die at verification rather than at listing.
Activity
We will buy influence on less active channels, but we cannot offer anything substantial for them regardless of size. Zero or near-zero activity is not something buyers want: YouTube reach depends on the algorithm continuing to circulate the channel, and that stops when uploads stop.
Clean standing
No copyright strikes, no community-guideline strikes, no pending appeals, and no monetisation suspension. Strikes travel with the channel and a demonetised channel is worth a fraction of a monetised one.
Monetisation status
A channel in the YouTube Partner Programme with clean monetisation history is worth considerably more than one without, because the buyer inherits revenue from day one rather than reapplying.
Full access, transferable
Owner-level access to the channel and the Google account behind it, including the recovery email and phone. YouTube transfers are more involved than other platforms, which is exactly why we supervise them.
Proof of ownership
Required before anything is listed.
What decides the price
- RPM and watch time. The actual earnings figure, from the channel’s own analytics.
- Audience geography. A US, UK, Canadian or Australian majority can be worth several times the same watch time elsewhere, because advertiser rates differ that much.
- Niche. Finance, software, tech review and education carry the highest RPMs. Entertainment and gaming carry reach but lower rates.
- Content transferability. A channel built around a presenter is harder to sell than a format a new owner can continue.
- Revenue proof. Twelve months of AdSense and sponsorship statements.
A note on the market
Channel prices have been under pressure since YouTube’s policy changes to monetisation and reused content. We price against what channels are actually closing at now, not what they fetched five years ago, and we will tell you if the honest number is lower than you expected.