Privacy Policy

1. What qmetrics is

qmetrics (qmetrics.net) is a directory of public YouTube channels, built for advertisers, brands and marketing agencies who want to find and contact creators for sponsorship and marketing purposes. This policy explains what information we collect, both from people who use qmetrics and about the YouTube channels in our directory, and how we use it.

2. Information we collect about YouTube channels

Using the YouTube Data API and YouTube's public search, we collect:

• Public channel statistics — subscriber count, view count, video count, category, country and topics.
• Business contact information a channel owner has published in their channel's "About" section or video descriptions, specifically for sponsorship and business inquiries.
• Outbound links a channel publishes (e.g. sponsor or affiliate domains) found in the same public description text.

We only collect information that is publicly visible on YouTube. We do not access private data, do not access anything behind a creator's own YouTube sign-in, and do not use a creator's YouTube account to obtain this information — everything comes from YouTube's public API and public pages.

2a. Our lawful basis for holding channel information

Where UK or EU data protection law applies, our lawful basis for collecting and publishing the channel information described above is legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR): the interest of advertisers and agencies in identifying creators to work with, and of creators in receiving the sponsorship enquiries they published a business address to receive.

We have weighed that against the interests of the people concerned. The information is limited to what a channel owner has deliberately published for business contact, it is not combined with data from other sources to build a personal profile, it is not sold as a one-off list, and it is available only to signed-in subscribers under terms that forbid spam and resale. We do not collect special category data, and we do not knowingly hold information about children.

Because we obtain this information from YouTube rather than from the channel owner, we cannot notify each person individually — with millions of channels that would be disproportionate effort under Article 14(5)(b). This page is the notice instead. You can object to us holding your information at any time and we will remove it, without needing to give a reason: use the contact form. We aim to act within 30 days.

3. Information we collect from qmetrics users

When you sign in and use qmetrics, we collect:

• Your email address, used to send a one-time sign-in link, or provided by Google when you use "Continue with Google".
• If you sign in with Google: the name, email address and profile picture Google shares with us to identify you. We request only basic sign-in information — we never request, and cannot access, your own YouTube account, videos or data through this sign-in.
• A session cookie that keeps you signed in.
• Analytics cookies set by Google Analytics, which records the pages you visit, roughly where in the world you are, and what kind of device you use. We use it to see which pages are worth keeping. It is not used to identify you personally, and you can block it with any ad blocker or browser tracking protection.
• Advertising cookies set by Google Ads, which tell us whether someone who arrived from one of our ads went on to sign up or subscribe. We use them to measure whether our advertising is worth paying for. Both these and the analytics cookies are off until you press Accept on the cookie banner: decline, or simply ignore it, and neither is ever set.
• If you subscribe: your email address and billing details are handled by Stripe, our payment processor. Card numbers go straight to Stripe and never reach our servers — we store only your address, your subscription status and the Stripe identifiers needed to manage it.
• Basic request logs (IP address, timestamp, pages visited) used for security, abuse prevention and diagnosing problems.
• If you use our API: which endpoints you called and when, used for billing and rate limiting.
• Channels and brands you save to your watchlist and any notes you write against them, stored against your email address so the list is there on your next visit. Deleting your account deletes them.
• A record of each CSV export you run — the time, the number of rows, and which channels' contact addresses it contained — used to apply the monthly export allowance and to avoid charging you twice for the same channel. Deleting your account deletes this too.

4. How we use this information

• To operate the channel directory: search, filtering, the channel/brand pages shown to signed-in users, and the watchlist those pages save to.
• To operate the API for customers integrating qmetrics data into their own tools.
• To bill API usage and enforce rate limits.
• To keep the service secure and prevent abuse of the sign-in and contact forms.

We do not sell personal information to data brokers or ad networks, and nothing in the channel database is used to target anyone. Our only advertising use is the conversion measurement described above: if you accept cookies, Google Ads is told that a visit that began with one of our ads ended in a sign-up. You can withdraw that at any time by clearing this site’s cookies, which brings the banner back.

5. Who can see this information

Channel data (statistics and published contact details) is shown to qmetrics users and API customers as the core product — that is the service they are signing up for. Account information about qmetrics users themselves (your email, sign-in history) is not shared outside qmetrics, except with service providers who help us run the site (e.g. our email and hosting providers), bound to use it only to provide that service.

5a. Processors we use

We use a small number of third parties to run the service. They may process your data only to provide it to us:

• Stripe — payments and subscription management.
• Google Analytics — website usage statistics.
• Google Sign-In — optional authentication.
• Zoho Mail — sending sign-in links and service emails.
• Hostinger — the servers this runs on.

6. Retention

Sign-in links expire after 20 minutes and are stored only as a one-way hash, never in a form that could be used to sign in again. Sessions last up to 30 days. Channel statistics are refreshed periodically and updated in place rather than kept as history. Published contact details are kept until they are found to be stale or removal is requested (see below).

7. Your choices and rights

If you're a channel owner and want contact details removed from our directory, or you're a qmetrics user and want your account or sign-in data deleted, contact us and we will act on the request. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights over your personal information under laws such as the GDPR or CCPA; the same contact form is the way to exercise them.

Those rights include: access to the information we hold about you, correction of anything inaccurate, erasure, restriction of processing, portability, and the right to object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests. Exercising them is free and we will not treat you differently for it.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information you can complain to your data protection regulator. In the UK that is the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk); in the EU it is the supervisory authority for the country you live in.

7a. Where your information is held

Our servers are in the European Union. Some of the processors listed above (Stripe, Google) may process data in the United States; where they do, transfers are covered by the standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards in those providers' own terms.

8. Security

Sign-in tokens are stored as one-way hashes, not in plaintext. Connections to qmetrics are encrypted (HTTPS). Access to the underlying database is restricted to the systems that need it.

9. Children's privacy

qmetrics is a business tool for advertisers and agencies. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.

10. YouTube API Services

qmetrics uses YouTube API Services. By using qmetrics, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. For information on how Google handles data, see the Google Privacy Policy.

11. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes to this policy, we will update the effective date above. Continued use of qmetrics after a change means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy, or a request under section 7, go through our contact form.