Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2018, as day-of news (27 November 2018) about a one-off delay in November AdSense and YouTube payments. It describes that episode only and is of limited relevance today.
Some Google AdSense publishers and YouTube creators are complaining that, as of 27 November, Google still hasn’t paid them. Google has acknowledged that it is having technical problems and has sent a notice saying it is working to fix them.
Google’s help forums started receiving messages on 22 November, when many publishers saw that their payment still hadn’t been issued. In the eight years I’ve been an AdSense publisher, Google has always been as punctual as clockwork, issuing payment on the 21st or 22nd of each month. Only once before had there been a delay in payments.
That said, in the terms of the AdSense publisher programme and the YouTube creator programme, Google says it sends payments between the 21st and the 26th of each month. That is the answer it had been giving on Twitter to users who asked the Google and YouTube accounts when they would be paid.
Yesterday, when complaints about missing payments became widespread, Google had no choice but to send this notice to both AdSense publishers and YouTube creators:
Some November payments still pending
Some of you might have noticed that your November payment is still marked as “pending”. Rest assured we are working hard to complete your payment as quickly as possible. No additional action is required on your part, and there’s no need to contact us about your November payment. As soon as the issue is fixed, you’ll see the status of your November payment updated.
Thank you very much for your understanding.
While these problems have not affected every account, they have affected a large number of accounts all over the world.
Update
As I was writing these lines, Google started sending that long-awaited message to some AdSense publishers who are usually paid on the 21st of each month, although this time the payment was issued with a date of the 27th.
I don’t know whether it has been fixed for all publishers yet, but they are working on the problem.
Featured image: William Murphy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
