YouTube has brought an end to its widespread demonetization of pro wrestling video content, allowing independent wrestling promotions such as WhatCulture’s WCPW to continue to make money from their channels.
Following the advertiser boycott costing the video-sharing site an estimated $750 million, YouTube adopted a heavy-handed approach to removing advertisements from channels and videos that it had deemed were not ad-friendly. While advertisers’ complaints had largely revolved around the unregulated hate speech and derogatory content hosted by the site, pro wrestling was also affected, with various promotions and channels producing wrestling-related content finding that their videos were being demonetized, causing them to lose a lot of money in the process.
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WCPW, one of the most popular UK indie wrestling promotions, revealed that YouTube’s new ad policies had harmed their earnings so much that they were forced to cancel their weekly live show, Loaded. However, YouTube has now seemingly reversed this decision, allowing WCPW to bring back Loaded and causing other wrestling YouTube channels to breathe a sigh of relief.
We're back! #WCPW #Loaded pic.twitter.com/vzoarjXmmz
— DEFIANT Wrestling (@DEFIANTwres) July 25, 2017
While YouTube is notably inconsistent when it comes to enforcing its policies, those with wrestling-related channels have reported that they’re now experiencing an increase in ad revenue, indicating that pro wrestling is no longer being placed in the site’s pile of demonetized content. According to PW Ponderings, Beyond Wrestling has also noted a “very small uptick in revenue,” so while YouTube may not have reinstated the amount earned by wrestling channels to its original state, things are at least on the up.
YouTube’s new advertising policies have caused a huge amount of unrest on the site, with some of its most popular creators reporting that they have lost a significant amount of money as a result of the changes. However, with the site now seemingly slowly reinstating ad revenue on certain channels, it’s possible that YouTube could return to the financial stability it previously offered its creators.
