Creator glossary
The words YouTube, TikTok and creators use, explained in a sentence or two, with what each means for your channel.
All terms
Inauthentic content
YouTube’s name for mass-produced or repetitive videos: content that looks made from a template, with little difference from one video to the next.
OpenReused content
Videos built mostly from someone else’s material (clips, audio, text) without significant original commentary, editing or educational value.
OpenYouTube Partner Program (YPP)
The program that lets a channel earn from YouTube: ads, memberships and more, once it meets the thresholds and is accepted.
OpenRPM (revenue per mille)
What a creator earns for every 1,000 views, after YouTube’s share: the number that turns views into money.
OpenCPM (cost per mille)
What advertisers pay for 1,000 ad impressions. It is not what the creator earns: that is RPM.
OpenFaceless channel
A YouTube or TikTok channel whose creator never appears on camera: narration over footage, images or animation.
OpenHook
The first line or seconds of a video, written to make people stay for the rest.
OpenAudience retention
How much of a video people watch. YouTube Studio shows it as a curve and as average view duration.
OpenCTR (impressions click-through rate)
The share of people who saw your thumbnail and title on YouTube and clicked to watch.
OpenAI disclosure (altered or synthetic content)
YouTube’s rule that creators say when a video contains realistic altered or AI-generated content that viewers could mistake for real.
OpenB-roll
The footage or images shown over narration to illustrate what is being said.
OpenEvergreen content
Videos about topics that stay relevant for years, so they keep getting views long after they are posted.
OpenYouTube Shorts
YouTube’s vertical short videos, up to 3 minutes long, watched in a swipeable feed on phones.
OpenWatch time
The total time viewers spent watching your videos. YouTube uses it to rank videos and to decide Partner Program eligibility.
OpenContent ID
YouTube’s system that matches uploads against files from rights holders, and can block a video, send its ad money to the owner, or just track it.
OpenNiche
The one topic a channel is about, and the audience that comes for it.
OpenThumbnail
The still image that stands for a video before anyone clicks it; with the title, it decides the click.
OpenVoiceover
Narration recorded or generated separately and played over a video’s images: the voice of a faceless channel.
OpenYour next video starts with an idea
Write it, and in a few minutes you have a video ready to post. Your first one is free.