> Source: https://www.trackmedia.app/blog/youtube-pinned-comment-when-scheduling-a-video · Last updated: 2026-10-06 # YouTube pinned comment when scheduling a video You cannot pin a comment while a YouTube video is still scheduled, because it is private. Here is what YouTube says, and the steps to pin one at publish time. *Guides · Published 2026-10-06* You cannot set up a YouTube pinned comment when scheduling a video, because a scheduled video is private and YouTube says comments are not available on private videos. The workaround is to post your comment as soon as the video goes public, then pin it. This guide covers what YouTube Help says about comments and scheduling, what your channel needs before it can pin anything, the exact steps to pin at publish time, and what TrackMedia's YouTube connector does and does not do. Every YouTube claim comes from a page we opened on October 6, 2026, and we say where YouTube's pages are silent. ## Can you pin a comment when scheduling a YouTube video? No. YouTube's [Schedule video publish time](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1270709) page describes scheduling as a way "to schedule a private video to go public at a specific time". Its steps (Studio, **CREATE**, **Upload videos**, **Schedule** card) include no comment field. The comment side is just as direct. YouTube's [Post & interact with comments](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6000964) page says: "Comments are not available on private videos." Its pin steps start with "In the comments below a video, select the comment you want to pin", and there is no comment to select before the video can take comments. YouTube's [Change video privacy settings](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/157177) page repeats the rule in a table: a private video "Can be commented on: No", while unlisted and public videos are "Yes". We found no setting on the upload, scheduling or comments pages that pre-loads a pinned comment. That is a statement about the pages we read, not a guarantee about every Studio screen. ![Timeline in three stages. Before the publish time the scheduled video is Private and comments are not available, so there is nothing to pin. At the publish time the video goes Public and comments can be posted. Then you select the comment, click More, then Pin, then PIN to confirm, which needs advanced features on the channel. A side note says unlisted videos can be commented on, but YouTube Help does not say whether a pinned comment carries over to Public.](https://www.trackmedia.app/assets/img/blog/youtube-pinned-comment-when-scheduling-a-video-fig1.svg) *Where a pinned comment fits around a scheduled publish, using the rules on YouTube's Help pages.* ## What does your channel need before it can pin a comment? Your channel needs access to advanced features. YouTube's comments page says "To pin comments, you must allow access to advanced features on your channel", and that these "may take up to 24 hours after they're turned on to show up across your channel." YouTube's [Get access to intermediate and advanced features](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9891124) page lists pinned comments as an example of an advanced feature, and it describes two steps. Step 1 is phone verification, which on its own gives you intermediate features. Step 2, after that, is either building sufficient channel history or verifying your identity with a valid ID or video. The page says ID and video verification is not available to all creators, and that most active channels already have enough history. On a computer, the phone step is: sign in to YouTube Studio, click **Settings**, click **Channel**, then **Feature eligibility**, **Intermediate features**, **VERIFY PHONE NUMBER**. Finish both steps days before a launch, not minutes before the video goes live, because of the 24-hour delay. ## How do you pin a comment once a scheduled video goes live? Post the comment from the channel account right after the video turns public, then pin it. These steps combine YouTube's scheduling, comments and Studio pages: 1. **Confirm advanced features.** In Studio, open **Settings**, **Channel**, **Feature eligibility** and check that your channel has them before the launch day. 2. **Write the comment ahead of time.** Keep the text in a note so you can paste it the moment the video is public. 3. **Schedule the video as usual.** In Studio, select **CREATE**, **Upload videos**, click the **Schedule** card, set the date, time and time zone, then select **Schedule**. 4. **Check that it actually published.** YouTube says that if your account has a Community Guidelines strike, the scheduled video does not publish during the penalty period. It is set to private and you must reschedule it. 5. **Post your comment.** Open the public watch page signed in as your channel and add the comment. 6. **Pin it.** Select the comment, click **More**, then **Pin**, and click **PIN** to confirm. You can also pin from Studio. YouTube's [Review & reply to comments](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9482367) page says to select **Community** in the left menu and use the **Published** tab. It describes Pin as "Select More, then Pin", and notes the option "only appears when viewing comments for an individual video". If you would rather not wait for the schedule, YouTube's scheduling page says to open **Content** in the left menu, select the video, choose **Edit Visibility** from the dropdown, set it to Public, then select **Publish**. You can post and pin the comment as soon as it is public. Three behaviors are worth knowing. Pinning a new comment replaces an existing pinned one, and you can unpin at any time. On a computer, viewers see the pinned comment at the top of the watch page with a "Pinned by" icon and your channel name, while on mobile they must expand the comment section. YouTube also says pinning "doesn't guarantee" the comment shows in the short comment preview, though it still appears first when someone taps to view all. ## Can an unlisted upload or the API pin a comment early? An unlisted upload can take comments, but YouTube does not document the pin carrying over. YouTube's comments page says "post an unlisted video instead" if you want comments on a video that is not publicly available, and the privacy page says unlisted videos can be seen by anyone with the link. No page we read says whether a comment pinned on an unlisted video stays pinned after you switch to Public. The scheduling page also tells you to start from "scheduled" or "private", so this route means switching the video to Public by hand. Test it on a throwaway video first. The API does not fill the gap either. Google's [Comments resource](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/comments) lists five methods: list, insert, update, delete and setModerationStatus. The [commentThreads.insert](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/commentThreads/insert) page says it creates a top-level comment, costs 50 quota units and needs the `youtube.force-ssl` scope. Neither page mentions pinning, so as of October 2026 we found no documented way to pin a comment through the API. ## How does TrackMedia handle YouTube comments? TrackMedia's code includes a YouTube connector that uploads one video per post, and it does not post or pin comments. Here is what the code shows: - **Upload only.** The connector needs a video and a title, and sends the title and description with the upload. - **No comment write access.** It asks Google for two scopes, `youtube.upload` and `youtube.readonly`. The scope listed for comment creation above, `youtube.force-ssl`, is not among them. - **No first comment on YouTube.** TrackMedia can add a first comment on Instagram, but the YouTube connector does not declare that capability. If you add a first comment to a YouTube target, TrackMedia's validation warns that the platform cannot post one automatically, and the publish code does not read it. - **By default, TrackMedia holds the schedule.** TrackMedia starts the upload at the chosen time, and the connector's default visibility is public, so the video is public once the upload finishes. We found no YouTube visibility or publish-time field in the web composer. - **An API override can hand scheduling to YouTube.** The connector reads two per-target overrides that the web composer does not expose. A `visibility` value is sent to YouTube as the video's privacy status. A `publishAt` timestamp makes the connector upload the video as private with YouTube's own `status.publishAt`, so YouTube makes it public, not TrackMedia. Google's [Videos resource](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/videos) page says `status.publishAt` can be set only if the privacy status is private. A video uploaded that way is a scheduled private video on YouTube, so everything above applies until its publish time. In practice, unless you set one of those overrides, the video is public once TrackMedia has published it, so you can open it and run the pin steps above straight away. With the `publishAt` override, wait for the time you set. Instagram is different: our guide to [automating Instagram posts](https://www.trackmedia.app/blog/how-to-automate-instagram-posts) covers the first comment TrackMedia can add there. See [how publishing works in TrackMedia](https://www.trackmedia.app/#publish), or the [YouTube Shorts length and aspect ratio guide](https://www.trackmedia.app/blog/youtube-shorts-length-size-and-aspect-ratio) if you are scheduling Shorts, and [managing multiple social media accounts](https://www.trackmedia.app/blog/how-to-manage-multiple-social-media-accounts) if you run several channels. One honest limit: we read this from the code, not from a live channel, we did not test either override, and we cannot tell you whether YouTube publishing is switched on for your workspace. When you are ready, [start free with TrackMedia](https://go.trackmedia.app/signup) to see which networks are available to you. ## How we checked this We opened each page below on October 6, 2026 and copied labels and quotes from the page text. We did not schedule a video on a live channel, so the Studio screens after scheduling are described only as far as the Help pages describe them. TrackMedia behavior comes from the YouTube connector code in its repository, read the same day. - [Post & interact with comments](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6000964) (YouTube Help, computer): private videos, unlisted videos, pin steps, advanced features, preview note. - [Review & reply to comments](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9482367) (YouTube Help, computer): Community, Published tab, Pin in Studio. - [Schedule video publish time](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1270709) (YouTube Help, computer): scheduling and editing steps, strike note. - [Change video privacy settings](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/157177) (YouTube Help, computer): private versus unlisted and the comments table. - [Get access to intermediate and advanced features](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9891124) (YouTube Help, computer): phone verification path, pinned comments as an advanced feature. - [Comments resource](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/comments) and [commentThreads.insert](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/commentThreads/insert) (YouTube Data API): methods, quota, scope. - [Videos resource](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs/videos) (YouTube Data API): the rule for `status.publishAt`. We could not verify what Studio's Content list shows for a scheduled video, whether a comment pinned on an unlisted video stays pinned after it goes public, the mobile app's pin steps, or any way to pre-load a pinned comment, so none are stated as fact. YouTube changes these features, so check the live pages before a launch.