YouTube Video Playback Error: This Is A Private Video

I configured a WordPress plugin on my personal blog site to allow me to embed YouTube videos of my kids to share with the family. The plugin is called Youtube With Fancy Zoom and provides a great way to setup a gallery of YouTube thumbnails that when clicked on will open a YouTube movie in a overlay window. Anyway during configuring the plugin, videos, etc. I was logged in to YouTube and assumed everything was working properly. I emailed the new page to my wife to check out and she let me know that she was not able to view the videos because they were all labeled private. The message stating the YouTube videos were private along with how to share the videos with everyone are both detailed below.

YouTube – This Is A Private Video Message:

YouTube Private Video Text: This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender’s friend request.

What happened is when I uploaded the videos I set the Privacy setting to Private thinking I would still be able to get the access via my web site to work. I don’t really care if the videos are displayed on YouTube but figured it was less clutter if I only offered them via my WordPress blog site. To change the Privacy setting from Privacy to Share follow the directions below.

Change YouTube Video Privacy Setting:

1. Logon To YouTube: Open www.youtube.com in a browser and login.
2. Open My Videos: Highlight your username in the top right corner of the YouTube page and select My Videos from the drop down to display a list of all the videos you have uploaded.
3. Veriify Privacy Setting: Each video will have details listed to the right of the thumbnail so you can verify if the Privacy setting is turned on our not by seeing what is listed next to Broadcast. If Public is listed next to Broadcast in the video list than the video is already viewable by all but if Private is listed next to Broadcast the settings need to be modified so others can view the video.

   

4. Modify Privacy Setting: Click the Edit button located below the video details to open a new page where you can modify the settings for this video. Scroll down on the left side of the page until you see Broadcast and Sharing Options. If it is not expanded go ahead and expanded to display all of the options below this section. The setting we need to modify is the first setting under the Broadcast and Sharing Options called Privacy. Change the radio button from “Private (viewable by 25 people)” to “Share your video with the world (Rec0mmended)”.  Once you have change this setting scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save Changes button listed on the left side of the web page.

   

5. Verify New Settings: Now attempt to view the YouTube video you just modified without being logged into YouTube to make sure the settings saved properly.

It is possible you found this page because someone has recommended a YouTube video to you but you are not able to view this video because of the Private message listed in the beginning of this article. If that is the case you need to contact the person who uploaded the video and request to be added to the private list of viewers or request that they make the video viewable by everyone.