Each video in its elite ad program will be examined by human reviewers, while the bar has been raised for joining the program. New videos uploaded to Google Preferred channels will also have to be manually verified to meet YouTube guidelines before they can run ads.
Previously, they needed 10,000 total views to join the program. Starting today, channels also need to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of view time in the past year. (For now, those are just requirements to join the program, but Google says it will also start applying them to current partners on February 20.)