YouTube is Turning Away from Original Content
by EG
Until now, every media company was convinced that the development of original content was a path to more customers and easy money. YouTube appears to be not so sure that's true any longer, as the company announced plans to move away from scripted original content. Read on for details.
Three years after YouTube launched a subscription streaming service aimed at making it a destination for premium programming, the online video giant is shifting its strategy.
The Google-owned platform is expected to scale back its scripted output beginning in 2020, a source with direct knowledge of the company's plans tells The Hollywood Reporter. The move comes as executives plan to double down on YouTube's ad-supported business by making all future originals free to its 2 billion users, regardless of whether they pay $12 each month for subscription service YouTube Premium.
The YouTube Originals team, led by former MTV executive Susanne Daniels, has started informing creative partners about the shift, per multiple sources, one of whom describes the pullback as "a serious budget reduction." YouTube isn't signaling a complete end to its scripted business — it is working on second seasons of the Karate Kid reboot Cobra Kai and the Doug Liman-produced Impulse and recently ordered pilots for an adaptation of The Edge of Seventeen and the Ben Stiller-produced big-rig drama Dark Cargo — but the change has raised questions about its willingness to compete for big-budget fare. "Other platforms have had traction with scripted, but they don't feel like there's an opening for them," says one producer briefed on the company's strategy.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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