Russell Brand’s advert income on YouTube has been suspended.

Russell Brand’s channels on YouTube have been suspended from earning revenue through advertisements due to their violation of the platform’s “creator responsibility policy”.

The video platform stated that it was implementing measures “to safeguard” its users.

Following additional accusations about the celebrity, the Metropolitan Police received a report in 2003 regarding a claimed sexual assault.

During the weekend, allegations of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013 were made against the comedian and actor, although he denies them.

On Tuesday, a representative from YouTube stated that if a creator’s actions outside of the platform negatively impact our users, employees, or ecosystem, we will respond accordingly.

Additionally, this decision follows the postponement of the remaining performances of Brand’s Bipolarisation tour.

Recently, the individual who used to work in television and radio has changed his focus. He now shares frequent videos on topics such as spirituality, politics that challenge established systems, and more recently, unidentified flying objects (UFOs). These videos are viewed by his 6.6 million subscribers.

YouTube has confirmed to the BBC that its decision to block the revenue streams of the 48-year-old applies to “all channels that may be owned or operated” by him.

Other channels associated with his main YouTube page include Awakening With Russell, Stay Free With Russell Brand and Football Is Nice, which have about 500,000 subscribers between them.

While YouTube noted that such bans are rare, it pointed to previous examples including the suspension of adverts from the channels of Slovak internet personality David Dobrik and US YouTuber and make-up artist James Charles.

In an interview with the Guardian, Sara McCorquodale, the CEO of social media analysis agency CORQ, mentioned that Brand’s YouTube channel is estimated to earn between £2,000 and £4,000 per video. This calculation does not include any potential earnings from affiliate deals or brand sponsorships.

According to Companies House, Brand’s company – called Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm Ltd – saw its net assets more than double from £2m in 2020 to £4.1 million in 2021.

There are numerous methods available for individuals to generate income on YouTube.

One way to generate income is through advertising revenue. Once YouTubers have built a substantial audience, they can have advertisements displayed before and during their videos, earning different amounts of money. As an example, a YouTuber with 500,000 subscribers recently revealed to the BBC that they earned approximately £10,000 from a video that received 1.5 million views.

The actual earnings from videos can significantly differ and be either lower or higher than this.

Other ways of making money include channel memberships, where people subscribe to see more of your content, as well as super chat and super thanks, where a viewer can pay to have their message to the creator appear more prominently.

However, the primary method by which YouTubers generate income is through sponsorships, commonly referred to as “spons” within the community.

In the description of all his videos, except for his latest one where he addressed the accusations, Brand prominently features advertisements. These advertisements are for various companies, such as a skincare brand, a food supplement powder, a VPN service, and a coffee substitute.

Companies pay for prominent sponsorship on videos earning hundreds of thousands of views, and will generally pay much more for the amount of conversions – people who buy the product using the link. This could be anything from one twentieth to half the purchase price.

It’s impossible to accurately estimate how much this is, as the finances are agreed on a case-by-case basis. But suffice to say, it is not uncommon for a YouTuber to make more money through spons than any other income source on the platform.

The accusations against Brand were brought forward as a result of a collaborative inquiry conducted by the Sunday Times, the Times, and Channel 4’s Dispatches.

Before it was aired, Brand utilized his online video platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, X (previously known as Twitter), and Rumble to preemptively reject any accusations of wrongdoing. He stated that he was being targeted by a planned assault involving “extremely grave allegations” which he strongly denies.

He stated that all of his relationships had always been consensual.

During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, a woman who was 16 at the time revealed that his actions of sexual assault were widely known.

Alice, the woman in question, stated that the accusations against him have been overdue.

After remaining silent since the allegations were made public, she expressed her disbelief and offense towards his denial.

Brand continues to maintain a presence on Rumble, boasting 1.4 million followers. He consistently hosts a show every weekday; however, it is worth mentioning that no new episode was released on Monday.

Before transforming into an online expert, the comedian primarily earned money through prominent television and radio hosting roles, book and film appearances, and his live comedy performances.

After the allegations, he took the stage at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, entertaining a crowd of 2,000 enthusiastic fans as part of his Bipolarisation tour.

A sign held by a woman in the midst of the crowd stated: “We are here to support you.”

PR guru Mark Borkowski told the Daily Mail sections of his “cult” social media and podcast fanbase were likely to stand by him,

“He mentioned that a significant number of individuals will support him. Typically, when faced with such accusations, one’s professional life would be ruined. However, this situation is different and intriguing,” he expressed.

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