How To Make Youtube Channel Private? Step By Step Guide

YouTube offers a vast public platform for broadcasting video content to the world. But occasionally, you may prefer to restrict viewership to share videos in a more private space. Making your YouTube channel private allows you to control access for a more selective audience of your choosing. This guide will walk through the straightforward process of how to make a YouTube channel private in just a few simple steps. Whether you want to limit old videos from public view, securely share personal content with friends and family, or create a safe creative space free from public scrutiny, privatizing your channel can open up more possibilities for intimate expression. Learn how with this visual, step-by-step tutorial on how to seamlessly make your YouTube world invitation-only.

What is a Private Youtube Channel?

A private YouTube channel allows creators to restrict access to their videos and playlists, hiding content from public view. When a channel is made private, the owner has complete control over who can see their uploaded videos. Rather than allowing visibility to the entire YouTube community, a private channel shares videos only with an approved list of subscribers selected by the creator.

In contrast with public YouTube channels which can accumulate views from recommendations and search traffic, private channels do not appear in search results or suggestions. This means private videos stay exclusively available to people the creator intentionally grants permission to. Adolescent YouTube users between 13-17 automatically have private default privacy settings, while adult creators over 18 normally have public defaults. However, creators of any age can choose to privatize their content at any time, turning off public visibility in favor of an intimate, invite-only audience.

While private channels lose out on some public visibility, they offer creators more control, security, and seclusion with their uploaded content.

How to make Youtube Channel Private?

Making your YouTube channel private to hide videos from public view only takes a few quick steps. Simply follow this process:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.

2. In the Settings menu on the left sidebar, click on “Channel“. Then click “Advanced settings” under the Channel tab.

3. Scroll down to the very bottom of the Advanced settings page and locate the “Remove YouTube content” section. Click the “Remove YouTube content” button.

4. You will be redirected to enter your Google account login credentials to confirm it’s you. Enter your username and password and click “Next”.

5. On the next page, you will see two options:

• A) “I want to hide my content” – This will simply make all video content on your channel private so only you can view it. Your channel page will still be visible to the public but videos will be inaccessible.
• B) “I want to permanently delete my content” – This will completely delete all videos and playlists from your channel. Your channel page will still exist but will be empty to anyone who visits.

6. Select option A if you only want to privatize your channel’s video content. Choose option B if you want to erase all content from your channel page.

7. Click the “Next” button and confirm once more that you want to make your YouTube channel private or delete all content.

It’s that simple! All of your video content will now be hidden from public access on YouTube.

How to Share Private Youtube Videos?

Once your YouTube channel is private, you may still want to share certain videos with select people, like friends and family. Luckily, even private videos can be shared on an invite-only basis.

Follow these steps to safely share private YouTube videos:

1. Go to YouTube Studio and click “Content” to view your videos. Locate the private video you want to share.
2. Click the “Visibility” setting next to the video title. Select the option for “Share privately” from the drop-down menu.
3. In the sharing permissions box, enter the emails of people you want to share the video with. You can enter up to 50 email addresses to grant access.
4. Make sure the “Notify via email” box is checked so your selected viewers are emailed video links with access.
5. Click “Done” once all email addresses are added. Then click “Save” to make the sharing permissions active.

Now only the people you’ve approved will receive email invitations with access to view that private video. They will need to sign into their Google/YouTube account to verify their identity and view the shared video link.

This is a secure way to share private content without making videos fully public. You remain in control of who can watch while allowing access to a selective audience of friends, family members, or collaborators. Revoke access anytime by disabling video link sharing in the YouTube Studio video settings.

As this guide has demonstrated, learning how to make your YouTube channel private gives creators greatly enhanced control and security. By toggling a channel to private mode, video uploads can be restricted to invite-only viewership instead of public visibility. Following the simple step-by-step instructions outlined here, any YouTube user can seamlessly privatize their channel through desktop or mobile settings. For creators who crave a more selective, intimate audience for sharing content without sacrificing platform features, making videos private allows building a safer, more curated community. Tools like TubeLoop even enable automatically repeating private YouTube videos for fun personal viewing.

Eric Mason

I am Eric Mason, the founder of TubeLoop.io and I have extensive experience with digital marketing and media. I have employed my expertise to launch a multitude of successful online businesses, ranging across a variety of industries. I also enjoy tackling startups, taking calculated risks and taking advantage of opportunities – I believe these attributes act as catalysts for success within any industry. I look forward to continuing my journey toward success with TubeLoop.io makes it possible for people to watch youtube videos over and over again, it is something I am passionate about and I’m excited to see what the future holds.