YouTubers Are Complaining About This One Detail Of Call of Duty: WWII


It seems like the lines between what Youtube’s advertisers have been told to want by the Internet’s outrage machine, versus what Youtube’s creators and viewers want, is becoming further and further apart.

The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of ads appearing on vulgar Youtube videos was really the straw that broke the camel’s back, brands took them at face value and started pulling their ads in a big way. The interesting thing is that brands aren’t just going to pocket that money, they’re going to start advertising elsewhere. Hmm, where else could you spend your digital advertising budget if you stopped advertising on Youtube? Maybe on news sites, that sounds safe and brand friendly, right? Maybe sites like the Wall Street Journal, even?

image: forbes

The channel PrestigeIsKey has over a million subs who look forward to every upcoming Call of Duty video that he drops, and have been for years. But now, he’s getting his videos demonetized left and right for depicting war. As if he was showing, and monetizing, clips from actual wars, and not just a video game.

“I’ve had videos demonetized because of ‘depictions of war,’ even though it’s Advanced Warfare and I’m talking about WWII, or I’m showing gameplay of CoD: WWII. It’s like, are games really lookin’ that good nowadays?” he said.

Other categories that have been getting Youtubers in trouble are things like using bad words, talking about disasters and tragedies, and “subjects related to war.”

YouTube video

Here’s a comparison that PrestigeIsKey posted comparing a video about CoD to a video about milk, to see how each one performed in terms of ads:

Youtube is strongly encouraging their creators to make more “brand friendly content”, which is unfortunate since the small window of what is considered ‘brand friendly’ does a lot to stifle creativity.

If Youtubers can’t make any money covering the new Call of Duty game, it’s going to influence the coverage that this game gets. Now, some of you out there are definitely happy that you’ll be seeing less Call of Duty videos all over Youtube, but there are bigger implications here.

Youtube has said they’ve had good conversations with advertisers, and hopefully this tightening of the belt is only temporary until the “adpocalypse” blows over. It’s also worth pointing out that when creators earn more through ads, so does Youtube, so it’s not like Youtube WANTS to limit the ads on so many videos, but they’re likely casting a wide net right now to rebuild faith in their advertisers.