Nintendo Claims Ad Revenue From YouTube Videos

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According to various YouTube users, Nintendo has started enforcing their copyright over content that is posted on YouTube.  Most notably, this includes numerous “Let’s Play” videos that feature lengths of game footage from a variety of Nintendo properties.

Nintendo’s approach here is to place ads at the beginning or end of videos that feature Nintendo games, and the resulting revenue goes to Nintendo instead of the original video’s creator.  There are some YouTube users that make decent income off of these types of videos, but that will not be the case with any videos featuring Nintendo properties.

Nintendo has emphasized that they do not want to block or remove videos featuring their games.  They issued a statement to GameFront on the matter.  Their response is as follows:

“As part of our on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media channels in an appropriate and safe way, we became a YouTube partner and as such in February 2013 we registered our copyright content in the YouTube database.”

“For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips. We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property.”

There are other forms of entertainment, such as certain movie and music producers, that block their content entirely from being used on YouTube.  Nintendo did not want to go that route, but they are likely creating controversy anyway.  Let’s Play videos will continue to be produced, but some users will begin to think twice about creating them with Nintendo properties.  Nintendo may end up reducing the amount of new content on YouTube as a result, simply because less users will want to create it.

I enjoy watching Let’s Play videos from time to time, and the majority of the ones I view are Nintendo games.  It would be a shame if this action causes a reduction in new content where this is concerned.

What are your thoughts?  Is Nintendo making the right move here?

Michael Larson has a traditional 9-5 job, but that is only the beginning. His interests include family, friends, football (Go Packers!), bowling, and video games. Games have always captured his attention, and he is very passionate about them. He has always had a special connection with all things Nintendo that goes back to the first days of the NES. Currently, the 3DS and Wii U (NNID: shark9213) occupy much of his gaming time.