Russell Brand set to lose fortune over YouTube advertising ban

Russell Brand faces losing millions of dollars after YouTube banned him from earning money from advertising on his channel.

The video platform’s website announced Tuesday that it had demonetized the comedian’s channel after multiple allegations of rape, sexual assault, psychological abuse and coercive control were made against him.

A joint investigation by the British channel Channel 4 Dispatches TV program and On Sunday Times And The temperature Newspapers spoke to five women who claimed Brand sexually assaulted them between 2006 and 2013.

He strongly denied the allegations and said all of his relationships were “always consensual” and occurred at a time in his life when he was infamously “promiscuous.”

But the repercussions on his career were swift for the British star, who on Tuesday lost the chance to make money on YouTube, on the grounds that Brand had violated its “creator responsibility policy”.

Brand currently has 6.6 million subscribers on YouTube, where he has accumulated over 1.1 billion cumulative views. YouTube sells advertising on its videos and for 1,000 ad views, companies pay a certain rate to the video platform.

YouTube then shares this revenue with individual content creators who receive 45% of the advertising profits, so those with more views have the potential to earn higher income.

Social media analytics site Social Blade estimated that Brand was on track to earn as much as $887,617 this year before YouTube decided to demonetize him.

Other experts estimate that Brand earns more than $1.2 million per year on YouTube, as the comedian reportedly earns between $2,480 and $4,960 per video and posts around five videos per week, according to a British newspaper. The Guardian.

Creators can earn money if they are part of the YouTube Partner Program or YouTube AdSense, after meeting certain criteria, including a minimum number of subscribers, video uploads, and video views.

YouTubers who spoke to Business Insider on their earnings between $1.61 and $29.30 per 1,000 views.

The company also banned Brand from creating another YouTube channel to circumvent its decision.

“We have suspended monetization on Russell Brand’s channel for violating our Creator Responsibility Policy,” YouTube wrote in a statement. “If a creator’s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees, or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community.”

YouTube confirmed that it has suspended Brand’s channel from the YouTube Partner Program “following serious allegations against the creator. This action means the channel is no longer able to monetize on YouTube.”

The brand is worth about $20 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and the personal business he owns with his wife, Laura Gallacher, had $5.21 million in assets in 2021, according to filings with Companies House.

The couple is still selling tickets on Brand’s website for a wellness retreat they will host together next year. Tickets for the event range from $198 to $241.

News week contacted the brand via email for comment.

This isn’t the only blow to Brand since the Dispatches the show aired on Saturday.

The promoters of his Bipolarization The stand-up tour revealed that the three remaining shows had been postponed and his working relationship with a British book publisher had been suspended.

Additionally, a literary and talent agency dropped him, while a charity supporting abused women also ended its collaboration with Brand.

The actor denied the allegations in a video on his X account, formerly Twitter, before the program aired.

Brand argued that he had always been transparent about the consensual nature of his past relationships and added that “the mainstream media is launching a coordinated attack” against him.

“These allegations relate to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I’ve written a lot in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said.

The investigation focused on women who described the alleged assaults, including one who described that Brand raped her in his Los Angeles home and that she was treated at a rape crisis center that day .

Another was 16 at the time Brand began a relationship with her when he was in his early 30s. He allegedly called her “the child” during their time together and she claimed he was emotionally abusive and controlling. The woman also described an alleged incident of forced sex and allegedly asking him to sit in a bath for hours until he came home and the water turned cold.

A third woman said Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles and threatened to sue her if she told anyone, while the fourth woman claimed he was sexually assaulted by Brand. She also said he was physically and emotionally abusive towards her.

British newspapers said they used the women’s testimonies and medical records, corroborated the women’s stories with people they spoke to at the time and reviewed private emails and text messages in order to make them public.