What’s the story?
According to reports released by Cagesideseats, the indie wrestling scene is set to suffer a huge financial blow due to recent YouTube policy changes. The video site has decided to add wrestling to the ‘not advertiser-friendly/restricted mode’ category and this, in turn, has adversely affected Indie wrestling companies that rely on YouTube for revenue.
This change is now affecting pro wrestling accounts and companies all across the board, including WWE and Impact Wrestling. Following the decision, wrestling companies AIW and Beyond Wrestling took to Twitter to express their angst.
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As part of the reformed policy, YouTube has decided to categorically reclassify professional wrestling as unsuitable for advertisers and has listed it under restricted content.
The heart of the matter
The restricted mode, which acts as a filter to mature and non-family content, affects wrestling channels, and especially their revenue. Thus, judging by the type of product pro-wrestling presents, specifically within the independent circuit, many organisations will suffer the fate of the rollout of policy changes.
What’s next?
If YouTube continues to restrict wrestling footage, it will essentially kill the entire genre of wrestling on the platform that provided users with a legal medium to access a diverse array of pro wrestling around the world.
In YouTube’s initial announcement of the change, the company has stated that content creators will be able to appeal their classification. Google has also mandated that wrestling channels will have to reach a prescribed threshold of views in order to receive any form of monetization.
Author’s take
These new policies will freeze out a vital source of revenue and growth, both of which are indisposable to the wrestling companies. Hopefully, these companies can successfully appeal the move and get their income back up. The move is extremely disheartening for these promotions, and for pro wrestling fans in general.
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