YouTube Made for Kids Rules: What They Mean and How to Set Them

Every YouTube creator, in every country, must tell YouTube whether their channel and videos are made for kids. This comes from an agreement YouTube made with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help follow a US law called COPPA, which protects children's data. This guide is based on YouTube's help pages checked on 25 October 2026. It is not legal advice.

What counts as made for kids?

Your content is made for kids if children are the main audience. It is also made for kids if it is aimed at children as one of its audiences, even if not the main one. In the US, a "kid" means under 13. Other countries may use a different age.

YouTube asks you to think about:

• The topic and the age group it is aimed at.
• Whether your titles, descriptions or real viewers point to children.
• Child actors, or characters, toys or celebrities popular with kids.
• Simple language children understand.
• Play-acting, simple songs or games, and early learning.

No single factor decides it. Family-friendly content is not automatically made for kids. A cooking channel that children might watch is usually not made for kids. A nursery rhyme cartoon usually is.

You are responsible

YouTube says it is your legal responsibility to set your audience correctly, wherever you live. It also warns you not to rely on YouTube's systems to set it for you. Getting it wrong can lead to action on YouTube and possible legal consequences under COPPA and other laws.

What changes on made for kids videos

To protect children's data, YouTube turns off many features. According to YouTube, these are not available:

• Comments (on videos and the channel)
• Personalised ads
• Notifications
• Cards and end screens
• Video watermarks
• Playback in the miniplayer
• Save to playlist and Watch Later
• Channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers
• Live chat and live chat donations
• Merchandise and ticketing, and the donate button
• Autoplay on home
• Channel posts

Ads can still appear, but they are not personalised, and only some ad types are allowed. This usually means lower earnings per view than similar general videos. YouTube's A/B testing tool for titles and thumbnails also cannot be used on made for kids videos.

How to set your audience

For the whole channel

1. Go to studio.youtube.com and sign in.
2. Click Settings, then Channel.
3. Open the Advanced settings tab.
4. Under Audience, choose your option. You can also choose to review it for every video.
5. Click Save.

For one or more videos

1. In YouTube Studio, click Content.
2. Tick the videos you want to change.
3. Click Edit, then Audience.
4. Choose "Yes, it's made for kids" or "No, it's not made for kids".
5. Click Update videos.

When you upload a new video, the Audience question is on the Details page. A video setting overrides the channel setting.

Tips for running a kids channel

• Be honest with the setting. Do not mark kids content as "not made for kids" to get comments or more ad money. That is the exact mistake the rules target.
• Plan income beyond ads. Because personalised ads and memberships are off, many kids channels also earn through licensing, their own products or brand work that follows child advertising rules. Check local laws first.
• Use playlists you create. Viewers cannot save to their own playlists, but your channel playlists still help them watch more.
• Make every video different. Repetitive, template-style kids videos can fail YouTube's inauthentic content rule. Read our YouTube AI rules guide.
• Keep thumbnails gentle. No scary or shocking images aimed at children.
• Protect children on camera. If real children appear, think about their privacy. Do not share names, schools or locations.
• Use safe music. The YouTube Audio Library has free tracks you can use. See our copyright guide.

Our Video Idea Generator and Content Calendar can help you plan a steady run of fresh episodes, and Auto Captions makes videos easier for young learners to follow.

Mixed audiences

If your channel is mostly for adults but some videos are for children (for example, a parenting channel with a few nursery songs), set those specific videos as made for kids and leave the rest as not made for kids.

Questions

Sources

• Determining if your content is made for kids (YouTube Help)
• Features impacted by COPPA: Made for Kids content (YouTube Help)
• Set your channel or video audience (YouTube Help)
• A/B test titles and thumbnails (YouTube Help)

Platform rules change often. Always check the official pages before you rely on them.