What the numbers say: At the start of 2021, YouTube started a crackdown on video channels due to policy violations, closing a high number of them. The crackdown continued until October 2022, when the number of deleted channels peaked at over 6.4 million.
Relevance: Over 785 million people used YouTube in 2022, making it the world's biggest video-sharing site. The increase in channel removals indicates a rising number of policy violations among the platform's growing user base. YouTube and other large internet firms have been both praised and scorned for their content moderation practices and the issue has become politically charged . The rise in content moderation and channel removals impacts the risk/reward ratio of online content strategies.
Brands that should care: Businesses that derive a large portion of their revenue from online videos may benefit from paying closer attention to the shifting political and policy landscape surrounding content moderation. It may also be prudent for such firms to consider diversifying revenue streams across multiple online video and social media platforms.