Demonetization is effectively censorship on Youtube. If your video is demonetized Youtube won't recommend it and will deprioritize it in search results. It's almost a shadowban.
YouTube's official position is that the monetization status of a video is not a factor in search and discovery, and that is probably true. But according to YouTube, all of the factors that impact advertiser friendliness (read: monetization) are factors in search and discovery.