Struggling to breakout - Youtube original ends

[williamcll]

 

After years of broadcasts to limited success, youtube has announced that it will cut back on their original shows and will be moving their funds elsewhere.

Quotes

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Going forward, the company will only fund originals in the YouTube Kids Fund and the Black Voices Fund, a program created in 2020 that committed $100 million to “amplify” Black creators on the platform. “With rapid growth comes new opportunities and now our investments can make a greater impact on even more creators when applied towards other initiatives, like our Creator Shorts Fund, Black Voices Fund, and Live Shopping programming to name a few,” the statement reads. YouTube Originals has changed approaches throughout the years. Created in 2016 and led by Susanne Daniels, it began with scripted shows and movies focused on creators, like comedy-thriller series Scare PewDiePie. In 2017, YouTube said the subscriber-only first season of originals racked up 250 million views. The company began pivoting toward ad-supported content featuring celebrities like Katy Perry and Kevin Hart, free for users to access without a subscription.
 

But over six years, YouTube made few titles that looked like breakout hits. And by the end, it was unclear what the original programming provided strategically to a service that’s already one of the most popular video destinations in the world. Today’s statement also announced Daniels will depart the company in March, which also contributed to the decision to scale back the division.

 

My thoughts

The only two shows that I liked with were Bandai's Obsolete and Vsauce's Mind Fields but I guess despite youtube's dominance it still lost to other paid online platforms.

 

Sources

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/22889889/youtube-originals-series-ending-susanne-daniels

[Eaglerino]

I'm not sure how to phrase this but I had no idea this existed until now

[poochyena]

I didn't watch many originals, and didn't care for the ones I did watch.

[Spotty]

And nothing of value was lost. I don't think Youtube Originals ever really had any big breakout hits that would make people want to buy Youtube Premium to watch. The only Youtube Originals I've watched was Cobrai Kai (but only after it was bought by Netflix) and a couple of episodes of a TV show I can't remember the name of about a woman who got raped and developed the ability to teleport.

 

Quote

Going forward, the company will only fund originals in the YouTube Kids Fund and the Black Voices Fund, a program created in 2020 that committed $100 million to “amplify” Black creators on the platform.

Sounds like they're cutting their losses on Youtube Originals but are obligated to fulfil the pledges they've made with those programs. I'm sure once those obligations are met they'll probably drop originals completely and any good shows or movies that might come from it will be sold off to other streaming platforms.