Discover how to delete your YouTube channel in 2024 with our expert step-by-step guide. Learn how to back up your videos, permanently erase your channel from existence, plus a superior video hosting alternative for your businesses.
YouTube is a popular video-sharing platform, but it may not always meet the needs of businesses.
If you’re considering deleting your YouTube channel, this article will guide you through the process. We’ll cover everything from backing up your videos to permanently removing your channel from existence, and the top YouTube channel alternative in case you’re looking to switch to a better platform.
So, let’s begin.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- YouTube lacks several features that make it unsuitable for business video hosting.
- Backup your videos to an external hard drive or cloud storage before deleting your YouTube Channel.
- You can decide to hide your YouTube channel instead of deleting the channel.
- At the moment, YouTube doesn’t support channel deletion from mobile devices.
- Adilo Channel is a better alternative for those seeking a more robust, feature-rich business video hosting platform.
Why You Might Need to Delete Your YouTube Channel
YouTube is the second largest search engine today, trailing Google.
Again, the video hosting platform attracts over two billion active monthly users, nearly six times the population of the United States, nearly twice the population of Africa, and more than four times the EU population, so having a presence here is a no-brainer.
It helps you reach a wider audience, build brand awareness, establish credibility, improve customer engagement, and leverage video marketing to boost your conversion rate.
A YouTube channel makes these possible. Sometimes, having a YouTube channel is just not worth it for your business anymore. If you’re in that boat, you might want to think about deleting it.
For instance, if you want to deliver ad-free streaming experiences to your audience, then YouTube might not be the right option for you due to its incessant intrusive ads. Also, YouTube is a bad choice for businesses that want a custom video player or URL to reflect their brand identity.
Other reasons you might want to delete your YouTube channel for better alternatives include:
- You need only authorized people or audiences from a particular country to watch your videos – YouTube doesn’t support location blacklisting.
- You’re concerned about people stealing or pirating your videos – YouTube lacks anti-privacy and video security features. Anyone can easily download or screen-record your videos.
- You need to generate leads from your viewers – YouTube doesn’t support advanced in-video lead generation capabilities.
- You want to split-test your videos before publishing them to host only videos your audience will love – YouTube lacks advanced built-in video split-testing capabilities.
- You need a video hosting platform with native screen and camera recorders to facilitate seamless video creation – YouTube doesn’t have a screen and camera recorder.
Now, how do you delete your YouTube channel? Let’s find out.
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How to Delete a YouTube Channel Using a Desktop
If you’re with your desktop computer, follow these three easy steps to delete your YouTube channel.
Step 1: Backup All Your Videos
If you get rid of your YouTube channel, all your videos will disappear too.
So, we recommend you back up all the videos you still need to your hard drive. The good thing is Google has made this process a breeze. However, you can only download your videos as an MP4 file, in either 720p or 360p resolution.
To begin, log in to your YouTube Studio. Next, click Content on the left panel.
YouTube Channel Dashboard
On the next screen, select the videos you want to download, click on the More action drop-down, then select Download to download your selected videos to your hard drive.
Download YouTube Channel Video
Step 2: Open Advanced Settings
Once you’ve saved your videos, you can go ahead and delete your channel.
First, head back to your channel dashboard and click on Settings. When you do, it’ll open the Settings modal window, then select Channel from the options, then go to Advanced Settings.
Next, scroll to the end, then select Remove YouTube content to complete this step.
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Step 3: Confirm Permanent Deletion
When you click the Remove YouTube content link, YouTube will redirect you to a new tab to confirm your Google email and password.
After signing in to confirm your account, then select I want to permanently delete my content from the options to permanently delete your channel and erase it from existence.
Confirm YouTube Channel Permanent Deletion
Alternatively, you can hide your channel to make your YouTube content and activities private and re-activate it anytime you wish.
How to Delete a YouTube Channel On Android and iOS Mobile Phones
Sadly, you can’t.
Google Doesn’t Allow YT Channel Deletion On Mobile
Google doesn’t currently support the option to remove a YouTube channel with Android and iOS mobile devices. Until they enable this feature, always use your desktop computer for anything you wish to delete a YouTube Channel.
10 Things to Do Before Deleting a YouTube Channel
With your desktop computer, it’s a breeze to delete your YouTube. But don’t rush to get rid of your YouTube channel; do these 10 things first:
- Backup your videos to an external hard drive or cloud storage for safekeeping. You might need them one day.
- Review your channel analytics to understand your audience and engagement metrics for potential future reference.
- If the channel is monetized, remove them, and also don’t forget to withdraw your earnings from AdSense.
- Remove all external or inbound links to your channel from social media, website, and other platforms.
- Notify your subscribers of your intention to delete the channel. Post a farewell video or messages to keep them updated and thank them for being a part of your community.
- Notify partners and sponsors of your decision to close the channel. Cancel any collaboration with them.
- If you still plan to use videos for your business, then explore other better YouTube alternatives with customizable channel features, like Adilo, Vimeo, Vidyard, and Wistia.
- Review comments and address pending moderation and sensitive discussions. You can export your comments as an Excel file. Several third-party apps can help you with this.
- Delete branded assets like custom thumbnails, banners, and icons.
- Review YouTube content deletion policy to fully understand what it deleting your YouTube channel entails.
Need a Better Alternative to Host Your Videos?
YouTube is great for content creators, businesses, and video marketing teams just starting.
But if you’re looking to scale up your viewer engagement, video creation, and lead generation, it’s not the best option. There are a lot of built-in limitations that can make it hard to generate leads or get the most from your viewers. I’ve already mentioned some of these limitations above.
If you’re looking for a better alternative to host your videos and supercharge your video marketing, I recommend you try Adilo Channel—it gives you everything you need to create your own branded and premium video channels.
CLICK HERE TO GET A FREE ADILO ACCOUNT
Let’s check out what it offers and how it compares to YouTube.
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Adilo Channels Key Features
Opting for Adilo Channels won’t be a bad idea, here are some of what you’ll get with it:
Branded Channel
Video Hosted On Adilo | A Cloud Video Hosting Platform
Adilo lets you completely brand your channels with your logo, theme color, and header image to strengthen brand recognition. You can also add your social media or website links to reinforce your brand identity. Unlike YouTube, you can customize the video player to deliver a consistent branding experience.
Additionally, Adilo lets you customize your video domain for a fully personalized viewer experience.
Adilo Supports Video Channel URL Customization
Unlimited Video Channels
YouTube allows up to 50 channels under one email. But with Adilo, you can create as many channels as you want to host your videos and podcasts. This way, bringing all your video and podcast marketing efforts under one dashboard. However, you’ll need to sign up to the paid plan to enjoy this feature.
No Ads
YouTube can be a real pain with all those annoying ads popping up all the time. But Adilo is 100 percent ad-free, so you can deliver focused and streamlined viewing experiences to your audience without any distractions. Plus, your audience will spend less time watching your videos, which is always a good thing.
Built-In Lead Capture
YouTube trails Adilo when it comes to built-in lead generation features. The latter lets you embed email capture forms before, after, or within the video timeline. You can also:
- Set up a redirect to your landing page at the end of the video
- Display the CTA button or clickable links on your video at any timestamp
- Recommend videos to viewers at the end of the video
- Display customizable product cards to sell products or display discounts
- Display discount time to trigger FOMO and urgency
- Embed custom HTML code
This Video is Recorded With Adilo & Hosted On Adilo
Additionally, Adilo integrates seamlessly with Facebook, Google Ads, plus other third-party marketing tools. It also supports A/B split testing. And you can export your Adilo Channel subscribers effortlessly.
Advanced Video Security
Adilo comes with advanced video security features.
For instance, unlike YouTube, you can password-protect your videos, whitelist devices, and the regions you want only the people from there to play the video. Adilo also comes with dynamic visual watermarks that can deter illegal screen recording of your videos.
Adilo Has Dynamic Visual Watermark Feature
What’s more, the platform features military-grade anti-piracy DRM encryption used by streaming services like Netflix and Showmax. This security feature helps prevent the unauthorized downloading of your video content.
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FAQs
Can you delete YouTube Videos?
Yes, you can delete your YouTube videos. The most straightforward way to delete your YouTube videos, especially if you have a lot of them, is from YouTube Studio.
To begin, log in to your account, click Channel, select all the videos you wish to select, open the More action drop-down, and then choose the Delete forever option.
How do I cancel a YouTube channel membership?
To cancel a YouTube channel membership:
- Go to the YouTube homepage and sign in to your account.
- Click on your profile picture in the top right corner and select “Paid memberships” from the menu.
- Find the membership you want to cancel and click on the “Manage membership” button.
- On the membership details page, click on the “Cancel membership” button.
- Confirm that you want to cancel your membership by clicking on the “Yes, cancel” button.
Your membership will be canceled immediately, and you will not be charged for any future billing cycles.
How long does it take to delete a YouTube Channel?
How long it’ll take you to delete a YouTube channel will depend on how familiar you are with YouTube. The process only requires a few steps, so you can expect to complete it within a few minutes if you have a fast internet connection.
Can I delete a YouTube channel without logging in?
No, you cannot delete a YouTube channel without logging in. To delete your YouTube channel, you must be signed in to your Google account associated with the channel.
What happens when you delete your YouTube channel?
When you delete your YouTube channel, all of your content, including videos, playlists, comments, and messages, will be removed permanently. Your channel URL will also become unavailable, and you will no longer be able to access any data associated with your channel.
Can I delete someone else’s YouTube channel?
No, you cannot delete someone else’s YouTube channel. Only the owner of the channel can delete it.
Final Thoughts On Deleting a YouTube Channel
Deleting a YouTube channel is a significant decision that should not be taken lightly.
It’s essential to weigh the pros and cons carefully before proceeding. If you’re still unsure about deleting your YouTube channel, consider taking a break instead. You can always reactivate your channel later if you change your mind.
Felix is the Senior Content Editor and Strategist at Adilo, where he harnesses his expertise in social video marketing, online video platforms, video editing, e-commerce, e-learning, and marketing to to help businesses drive results. With a keen eye for storytelling and a pulse on industry trends, Felix crafts actionable content that empowers brands to elevate their video marketing strategies and thrive in the digital landscape.
