WCPW cancela shows devido a mudanças no YouTube

Como noticiado há pouco mais de um mês, o YouTube passou a considerar o Wrestling como um conteúdo ofensivo e através do qual não é possível aos canais obter rendimentos publicitários.

Esta mudança na política do YouTube já fez com que vários YouTubers e canais relacionados com Wrestling tivessem que alterar a sua estrutura ou modelo de negócio, devido à enorme quebra de rendimentos que os canais sofreram. Um deles foi o do nosso parceiro MatthsGamerBr.

Hoje, foi a vez da WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) anunciar o cancelamento das gravações das próximas edições do WCPW Loaded, o seu programa semanal transmitido através do YouTube. No comunicado, a WCPW dá como exemplo um combate entre Alberto El Patron e Rey Mysterio que teve mais de 1 milhões de visualizações, mas que só gerou 44$ de rendimento publicitário.

Obviamente que este valor não cobre todos os custos de produção deste combate específico (quanto mais de um show), logo a companhia foi obrigada a mudar o seu modelo e para já cancelou os futuros shows. Os PPVs e a Pro Wrestling World Cup continuam de pé…

Este foi o comunicado da WCPW:

In a decision that has not been made lightly, WCPW must today announce that the forthcoming weekly Loaded shows at Manchester’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre will no longer be going ahead.

Effective immediately, our June 9, June 16, June 23, June 30, July 14, July 28, August 4, August 11, and August 18 shows have been pulled from our events pages, and refunds will be issued automatically to anyone who has purchased tickets to these events.

All other announced dates, including our PPVs and all Pro Wrestling World Cup dates are unaffected by this. Our initial June 2 show will also be going ahead as scheduled, and all tickets purchased for this are still valid.

This is a decision that we absolutely did not want to make, but unfortunately it has been taken out of our hands by YouTube.

Owing to a change in their monetisation policy, which has now classified wrestling as “non-advertiser friendly”, it is no longer financially viable for WCPW to produce a weekly free show of the quality our fans deserve.

Since the change the WCPW YouTube channel has seen its advertising income decimated, with our recent match between Alberto El Patron and Rey Mysterio Jr earning only $44 despite receiving over 1,100,000 views. This is a reduction of around 98% in what would have been Loaded’s main source of revenue.

Without that money, it is simply not possible to organise, set-up, manage, produce and edit a free-to-air show on the scale we had intended, and we’ve been left with no choice but to alter our business model. We’re not alone in this either, as other promotions, journalists, and fans have seen their ability to make a living from their content jeopardised entirely by this change.

While we support YouTube in their endeavours to make the site a safer and more tolerant place to visit, we reject entirely the classification of wrestling as a whole as “inappropriate content”. As such, in the coming weeks WCPW will be partnering with other like-minded individuals and organisations to start a campaign aimed at reversing this sweeping change.

Wrestling is not about violence. Wrestling is about scripted entertainment, amazing feats of athleticism and, most of all, story-telling. We want to thank all of our fans for their continued support, and we hope to have more positive news for you soon.