YouTube made for kids: what it means and how to set it

A video is made for kids if children are its main audience, or if they aren't the main audience but the video is still aimed at them (mixed audience). General audience content isn't the same thing. In the United States a child is anyone under 13; other countries may define it differently. YouTube asks all creators to set this, wherever they are, to comply with COPPA and other laws.

YouTube lists these factors to weigh:

• The subject, such as educational content for preschoolers.
• Whether children are the intended or actual audience.
• Child actors or models.
• Characters, celebrities or toys that appeal to children, including animated figures.
• Language meant for children to understand.
• Activities that appeal to children, such as play-acting, simple songs or games, or early education.
• Songs, stories or poems for children.
• Whether the content is advertised to children.

Source: YouTube Help: Determining if your content is made for kids, checked 15 October 2026

The channel setting applies to existing and future videos. It's only available in YouTube Studio on the web.

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the left menu, select Settings, then Channel.
3. Open the Advanced settings tab.
4. Under Audience, choose to set the channel as made for kids, not made for kids, or review the setting for every video.
5. Save.

Source: YouTube Help: Set your channel or video's audience, checked 15 October 2026

A video's own setting overrides the channel setting. If you skip the channel setting, you must set each video yourself. During upload:

1. In YouTube Studio, click Create, then Upload videos.
2. In the details, scroll to Audience.
3. Select Yes, it's made for kids, or No, it's not made for kids.
4. Click Next and finish the upload.
5. To change several existing videos, open Content, tick the videos, choose Edit, then Audience, pick the setting and click Update videos.

Source: YouTube Help: Set your channel or video's audience, checked 15 October 2026

YouTube restricts some features on made for kids content:

• Videos lose comments, notifications, Super Chat, save to playlist and personalised ads.
• Made for kids channels also lose channel memberships, the notification bell, Posts and Ask Studio.
• Without personalised ads, revenue may be lower for some creators.
• Made for kids videos are more likely to be recommended alongside other kids' videos.
• Comment settings can't be changed on made for kids videos.

Sources: YouTube Help: Set your channel or video's audience, checked 15 October 2026; YouTube Help: Determining if your content is made for kids, checked 15 October 2026; YouTube Help: Choose comment settings, checked 15 October 2026

YouTube uses machine learning to find videos clearly aimed at children and may override your setting if it detects error or abuse. If a video shows Set to made for kids, you can't change it yourself, but you can appeal once per video:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and select Content.
2. Open the video and hover over Set to made for kids.
3. Click Appeal.
4. Enter your reason and submit.

• A successful appeal removes the setting. An unsuccessful one leaves it in place.
• Don't rely on YouTube's systems to set your audience: they may miss content regulators consider made for kids, and a wrong setting can bring consequences on YouTube and under COPPA.
• YouTube Analytics isn't designed to tell you whether content is made for kids.

Sources: YouTube Help: Set your channel or video's audience, checked 15 October 2026; YouTube Help: Determining if your content is made for kids, checked 15 October 2026

The audience setting is yours to get right on every channel and video; YouTube says not to rely on its systems for it. Zolyp, which publishes this guide, publishes to YouTube as one of 9 platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads). It creates video uploads and Shorts with titles and descriptions written for search, can set a custom thumbnail on a standard video, and schedules them with the posts on your other networks. You approve the week before anything goes live.