YouTube struggles significantly with poker content: excessive advertisements, misleading titles, and exploitative practices by creators.
For over two decades, YouTube has been the go-to platform for a diverse range of video content, including poker. However, a recent wave of updates to the platform's policies has left content creators in the poker community grappling with unexpected issues.
Beginning in mid-March, vloggers and streamers across the platform started receiving notifications of age restrictions, removal of content, demonetization, and channel strikes, affecting both new and old content. YouTube has yet to comment on the causes of these issues.
In the ensuing weeks, information about the crisis has been gradually emerging, with award-winning streamer and vlogger Brad Owen, who boasts 775,000 subscribers, and 888poker Stream Team member and PokerOrg columnist Nick Eastwood being among the first to publicly address the matter. Eastwood, in particular, produced a 22-minute video detailing his ongoing struggles with the YouTube algorithm and the magnitude of the crisis. The video has garnered 280 comments so far, with other poker-focused creators such as Gary Blackwood, Kevin Martin, and Joey Ingram expressing their concerns.
One of the main issues beyond the obvious revenue concerns is the lack of clarity regarding what specifically is triggering the content issues. Eastwood notes that despite saying similar things in four consecutive streams, only two of them were age-restricted. The inconsistency in the algorithm's responses has left creators uncertain whether the issue is algorithmic or intentional.
This confusion isn't limited to the poker community; media companies like PokerOrg itself are also experiencing similar problems. Head of Instant Media at PokerOrg, Sarah Herring, has been personally handling the fallout. Initially, the company thought the issues would be primarily related to live streams, but it was their streams that resulted in a channel strike. In addition, Shorts are being flagged as suitable for viewers aged 18 and over, necessitating appeals to overturn the decisions. Despite repeated appeals, finding a common pattern in the flagged content has proven elusive.
The new restrictions have resulted in users needing to log in to verify their age, which can lead to a substantial drop in audience. Eastwood, who reports that none of his 20,000 subscribers are under 18, and Owen, whose massive channel attracts 0.4% of underage viewers, are both affected. Missing out on the initial release window of videos can significantly impact their visibility, and dealing with an automated system that doesn't provide clear explanations for its decisions is time-consuming and frustrating.
With the World Series of Poker (WSOP) set to begin in less than a month, there are serious concerns about the future of poker content on YouTube. The lack of clear communication from the platform and the scale of content removals have left many hoping for a unified approach from the poker community to address the issue. As Herring observes, while YouTube remains the primary platform for long-form video content, its recent restrictions on poker content could pose a significant challenge that the community may need to address swiftly.
- The ongoing issues with YouTube's policies affecting the poker community have led to discussions about the potential impacts on casino-gambling related content, such as casino-games like poker, with creators expressing concerns about gambling trends and the future of their content on the platform.
- Amidst the ongoing crisis, poker vloggers and streamers are closely monitoring and questioning the inconsistencies in the YouTube algorithm, hoping for clarity on what specific content triggers age restrictions, removal of content, demonetization, and channel strikes, as these issues could have significant implications for the entire casino-and-gambling content community.
