YouTube’s New Policies Will Push Creators to Patreon

Last week YouTube’s new policies regarding monetization on “controversial” subject matter came to light thanks to YouTube star Philip DeFranco.

Many famous YouTubers such as Laci Green and the Vlog Brothers have taken note of the change.  Thankfully many of the big names on YouTube have other sources of income, but YouTube’s new policies could have a massive effect on those who’s livelihood depends on ad revenue from their channels.

However, these policies may not be entirely new, according to Forbes.

“While our policy of demonetizing videos due to advertiser-friendly concerns hasn’t changed, we’ve recently improved the notification and appeal process to ensure better communication to our creators.”

Geek culture YouTuber creators aren’t the only one affected by this.  Chris Chappell of China Uncensored recently released a video and then followed it up with a Patreon update for the channel’s followers with information on how to continue supporting their work through Patreon.  Chappel also calls into question that this is a “recent” change, citing that his channel only got hit monetarily after the changes were made.  Six of his videos have had monetization removed since the announcement, but none of his videos had been affected prior to that.

Many YouTubers who are dependent on ad revenue may follow Chappell’s lead.  Whether these changes are new or not, the cat is out of the bag.  I would not be surprised to see YouTubers shift to this method of generating revenue instead of censoring themselves.  Controversy happens and YouTubers want to talk about it.  While it’s understandable some advertisers might not want their brands associated with a potentially negative image, people out there still want to watch this content.  Instead of shifting their entire userbase over to a new platform, they may keep their YouTube channels intact, continue covering content that may get their videos demonetized, and shift to a Patreon method of revenue generation.

How does this affect us here at The Geekiary?  We do, after all, often cover controversial topics.  Of our over 100 videos on our YouTube channel, only one is listed as being “under review” at this time.  We haven’t received any notification of why it’s under review, nor has it been stripped of its ad revenue yet.  YouTube has never been our primary source of income, but we are definitely keeping an eye on our channel in case anything gets flagged.  For those of you who already support our Patreon, thank you!  And for those of you who’d like to so that we can continue bringing you content that’s not watered down to be “advertiser friendly,” please view our Patreon here.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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