Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - 8/5/17 - YouTube Getting Sued

Episode Date: August 5, 2017

YouTube’s “Adpocalypse” has had a dramatic effect on the revenue streams of some YouTube-based operations.  Channels have seen their ad revenue drop due to recent policy changes YouTube has made, and one channel is fighting back.   Follow Jeffy on Twitter: @JeffyMRALike Jeffy on Facebook: www.facebook.com/JeffFisherRadioFollow Jeffy on Instagram: @jeffymra Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Blaze Radio Network. On demand. The Jeff Fisher Show. Saturday morning's 9 to noon Eastern. On the Blaze Radio Network. I'm driving around being the show for being my kids Uber. And they're telling me about yesterday, they're talking to me about YouTube being sued. And they're talking about the, you know, the YouTubers.

And I mean, my kids, they've got a list of YouTubers. that they're fans of. They don't watch television. They watch YouTube. They have YouTube stars that they, you know, that they watch. The YouTubers. And they're telling me how that YouTube is finally getting sued. Those bastards hate YouTube.

Even though you use it free, but I hate it. So anyway, and they're trying to tell me the story about how YouTube had changed their algorithm. and this particular YouTuber or YouTubers lost, you know, like 90% of their revenue because of the way YouTube had reconfigured. And that, you know, they're finally being sued and they're hoping to, you know, have other YouTubers come on board and who lost money. and other YouTubers have talked about losing money, and they go tell you what to do to go through to make sure that you subscribe and on subscribe and all that kind of stuff. And they were telling me a story about a guy who,

when YouTube changed their algorithm to make it ad-friendly, and then they said that you... One of the things that they talked about was the rights, right? So if you don't have the rights to the music, they can't they cut a bunch of channels because a lot of people were using music video and music that they didn't have the rights to, which is fair. So one guy decides, well, look, instead of getting pulled from YouTube, I'm going to take down the videos that have the music in it,

that has the rights on it. But when he did that, see, then it takes down his actual subscriber and view list, which then takes him off the trending charts of YouTube, which then takes him off. Nobody knows, everybody that logs onto YouTube, it just doesn't pop up. You have to actually physically search for this particular YouTuber. So he lost all kinds of money doing that. And YouTube is like, and I'm trying to tell my kids, well, you know, I mean, I'm pretty sure. I mean, YouTube's a private company.

They can pretty much do what they want. You're counting on them. You're using their product to post your material and they're taking your product. selling advertising and they're giving you a cut from that. You know, you got to do kind of what they want you to do or you don't get your cut. Well, the apocalypse, the YouTube-based show Apocalypse, right? The lawsuit begins in March of this year

when several brands pulled advertising from YouTube. After learning that some spots had been automatically attached to videos promoting terrorism and hate speech. In response, the video site improved its safeguards. Making it easier for the brands to avoid pairing their ads with the risky content types. No, it's appeased the brands, but it had its unattended effect. And it might not necessarily be the right word. Some creators complained that their channels had become unintended victims of YouTube's Everto Shield brand.

from dangerous content. Many channels saw massive drops in revenue, so I'm losing all of their ads. And this apocalypse, they were making 10 to 13,000, I'm sorry, 15,000. 10 to 15 grand a month. I mean, I'm willing to edit some videos

for 10 grand a month. What do you think? But it dropped down to 3,000. $333 a month. I mean, that puts some people out of business. If you have video editors, some of these YouTubers, so I've listened to my kids and I'm thinking, well, you know, if you come up with some content,

you know, I'll let you get a YouTube channel. And then we can get you, you know, we'll get you a laptop for the back room. And you guys can edit videos, a couple of, get you a couple of decent cameras and you guys can create some content. And, you know, then you can learn, you know, have your own schedule. And you can learn what it's like to, you know, create something. And then edit it and upload it and try to get people to watch it. Advertise it, that kind of thing, you know, it would be a good thing.

And, uh, and my son says, yeah, well, you know, maybe if it gets going, I can get a, you know, we can go ahead and get a video editor. Many of the YouTubers have their video editors. And when the money got cut, they had to drop it. Stop it. Okay. What do you do for a little bit? I edit the apocalypse YouTube videos.

Okay. Good for you. Good for you. Now, the lawsuit is targeting California's unfair competition law. The two creators hope that they can compel YouTube to reveal the specifics of its algorithms. Good luck. YouTube has a duty to disclose with detailed specificity and complete transparency. The terms by which content is selected or deselected for monetization.

Okay. Failing to disclose, this is. essential information to content providers, along with maintaining unilateral control to change the terms and conditions with govern the payment received by content providers for the creative workers anti-competitive, harmful to the creative content market, and also a breach of good faith and fair dealing. And prior to this next paragraph, I was telling my kids, again, I was saying, well, YouTube, I'm sure, you know, they're a private company, so I'm sure they have a disclaimer. and I don't know this because I haven't really, I mean, do I use YouTube?

Absolutely. Do I am I aware of all their rules and regulations? No, I am not a YouTuber. Although for $10,000 to $15,000 a month, I could become one. I'm thinking, well, YouTube's got to have their disclaimer. You can put up anything you want, but, and if you make some money, we'll share it with you. Good day. Other than that, have a nice day.

If we feel like we don't like your video or you're putting up crap, we'll pull it. If we don't put ads on your video, you're not going to make anything. Good day. We'll give you a penny of subscriber. Whatever the deal is. Whatever the deal is, that's their deal. It's the private company, and you either can use them or not use them. The big obstacle the lawsuit will have to overcome can be found right at the top of YouTube's terms of service.

Although we may attempt to notify you when major changes are made to these terms of service, you should periodically review the most up-to-date version. YouTube may in its sole discretion modify or revise these terms of service and policies at any time, and you agree to be bound by such modifications or revisions. Nothing in these terms of service shall be deemed to confer any third-party rights or benefits. Now, YouTube responded with, look, we've always worked hard to provide creators with the opportunity to earn revenue on our platform. We've tried hard for that. And you know what?

We're still trying hard for that. But you can go beat sand trying to get some more out of this. So good luck with that. I mean, I get there frustration. It is a frustrating thing when you're especially using a product and you've been making some decent income. And then the rug gets pulled out from underneath you. I can understand the frustration.

But you've got to be prepared when you're using another person's product. They get to do what they want with their product. That's what makes this America. Yeah. You know what? You can start your own YouTube. Yeah. You could do that.

You can start your own YouTube. And then you can make up your own rules.