Several YouTubers are reporting that over the last month, WBTV (Warner Bros. Television) has been issuing Content ID claims on videos that are critical of the Batwoman TV show. Several of these claims have been made months after the original videos were published and they’re coming at a time when Batwoman is seeing a huge ratings decline.
Movie and TV show review channel Mr H Reviews published a video in October which discussed the WBTV Content ID claims against three of its videos criticizing Batwoman. One of the claimed videos was published more than four months ago in July.
Around a week after Mr H Reviews published his video talking about these Content ID claims, the gaming, reviews, and culture channel It’sAGundam reported that it had also been slapped with a WBTV Content ID claim on a video that criticized Batwoman. This video was published in May, months before the video was hit with the Content ID claim.
About a month later, social commentary channel The Quartering reported that it too had been hit with a Content ID claim on a video that was critical of Batwoman. The Quartering’s video was published in June and claimed months after it was released.
While The Quartering challenged this claim and was able to get it released, he said it “serves as a clear and present demotivating factor.”
Mr H Reviews and The Quartering believe that these Content ID claims are being used to hide criticism of Batwoman and disincentivize YouTubers that criticize the show as its ratings continue to fall.
Batwoman has been struggling to attract both positive audience ratings and viewers since its release. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 12% Rotten rating. Meanwhile, the show’s viewers have dropped from 1.86 million when it debuted to 1.009 million on last Sunday’s episode – a decline of over 46% in seven weeks.
