As we’ve been reporting, several wrestling related YouTube channels have had to reevaluate their distribution methods after recent advertising restrictions put in place by the company have slashed profits for all pro wrestling content.
The latest victim of these policy changes appears to be a channel called Wrestling Shorts, run by an artist who produces WWE parody shorts. The channel has around 42,000 subscribers with his videos over the past 11 months boasting over 2.7 million views. Their official Twitter account posted some new info, showing that despite one of their recent shorts garnering over 190,000 it only earned $11.50. To put that into perspective, that means each view is now only worth about $0.00006.
Here’s an example of how bad it has gotten. you can now support Wrestling Shorts here: https://t.co/xYh9YTxHWl pic.twitter.com/qMB3SwksAt
— Wrestling Shorts (@WrestlingShorts) May 28, 2017
To compensate for their massive losses in earnings, Wrestling Shorts has now launched a Patreon account so fans of the series can directly support the creators. Channel head “Ash” has noted that all funds will go to helping the channel grow, so that he can expand to create more than one video per month, as well as launch new mini-series based off characters from his shorts. If you’re interested in supporting the crowd-funding campaign, there are multiple reward levels available starting at just $1 per month.
With regard to YouTube’s new anti-wrestling ad restrictions, a petition has been started that has already been signed by more than 16,000 individuals. It is calling for Google, who bought the YouTube brand back in 2006, to reconsider and adjust their advertising policies when it comes to pro wrestling content, so that promotions and brands that use their service as a means of financial stability can be appropriately paid for their hard work. If you’re interested, you can sign the petition now with just a click of a button on Change.org.
