YouTube has tightened its rules over linking to external sites.

The use of end cards featuring links to other sites is now restricted to members of the YouTube Partner Program, and to YouTube channels which have been enabled for monetisation – i.e., those where ads can run in front of videos. As a prequisite, YouTube channels must have a minimum of 10,000 public views.

Neither of these rules should present too much of a challenge for brands using YouTube as a marketing tool, at least as long as their content is reasonably popular, nor should it affect the bigger YouTube influencers that they might partner with. 

The most affected groups are newer YouTubers with smaller followings. From a marketing perspective, that means potential micro-influencers or affiliates for more niche products – but the biggest impact is likely to be on the creators themselves, as they may be unable to link to a crowdfunding platform like Patreon to support their work.

Its worth noting that these rules doesnt shut out external links completely, however – all users will still be able to include them in video descriptions.