Creator Demographics Setting in YouTube Studio

We’ve previously shared updates where we announced a new effort where YouTube will ask creators on a voluntary basis to provide us with their demographic and identity information. 

Why? This information helps us better evaluate how our systems treat content from various communities so we can more effectively measure needs for all creators & artists to ensure YouTube is inclusive and works for everyone. Providing this information is entirely optional.

We started rolling out the Creator & Artist Survey to creators and artists based in the U.S. on March 29, 2021. As of October 1, 2021, these questions can now be found under Creator Demographics in your YouTube Studio Settings section on a computer.  

We imagine you have a lot of questions so we’ve answered some of the top questions below. Feel free to leave additional questions in the comment section, and I’ll circle back with more information. 

The survey can now be found under Creator Demographics in the YouTube Studio Settings section on a computer. Currently, only U.S., UK, & Brazil based channel (primary) owners can use this setting. Note: If you participated in the survey in the past, your responses have been transferred over to the Settings page in YouTube Studio on a desktop device.

If you participated in the survey in the past, your responses have been transferred over to the Settings page in YouTube Studio. You can go to Creator Demographics in YouTube Studio to check if your responses are up-to-date. 

We’ll use the information you provide to help make YouTube a more accurate, consistent, safe, and inclusive platform by taking a closer look at:

More details on this here.

You can delete the information you provided in the YouTube Studio Settings under Creator demographics. More details here.

You can edit the information you provided about your demographic and identityat any time. Detailed instructions here.

No, this is entirely optional. If you choose to fill out the survey, every question will be voluntary so you’ll be able to leave certain questions blank or select “Prefer not to answer”. 

No, Creator Demographics won’t directly impact your video or channel's performance. 

To create these questions, we learned from and built off of examples and best practices driven by expert research, like federal censuses. We also worked closely with our internal employee community groups, civil & human rights experts, and creators who represent different communities. 

Your voluntary information will be stored with your YouTube channel with the option to delete and will not be used by other Google products. It won’t be made public without your additional consent and also won’t be used for advertising purposes. For example, this means that we will not provide this information to advertisers, or use it for ads targeting. 

You will have the option to consent for us to use your answers when deciding who to invite to special programs and celebrations. Special programs and celebrations may include having your channel or content highlighted and participating in programs, events, or campaigns like user research, fundraising opportunities, or workshops. 

In order to ensure we get this right and respect the nuances within each market, we are following a country-specific approach, starting with U.S., UK, & Brazil based creators and artists. We are looking to expand this to more countries over time. Note that you must be a channel (primary) owner to access this setting. 

If you choose to fill out Creator Demographics, we’ll use the information you provide to help make YouTube a more accurate, consistent, safe, and inclusive platform for all communities.