robertkyncl
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YouTube to scale back original shows as it focuses on free viewing
YouTube might not be quite so keen on original shows as it has in the past. Hollywood Reporter sources claim YouTube is planning to scale back its volume of original scripted programming starting in 2020 as part of a "serious budget reduction." It wouldn't drop originals entirely, but it wouldn't be spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year securing major productions. YouTube doesn't "feel like there's an opening" for its scripted work the way there is for rivals like Netflix and Amazon, a third-party producer said. Thankfully, there might be a good reason for toning down these efforts: many originals will be available for free.
YouTube confirms music service, will block holdout labels' videos within 'days'
The cat's (partly) out of the bag. After a string of rumors, YouTube has confirmed to the Financial Times that it's launching a paid music service this summer. It's not saying exactly how the service will work, but Reuters sources claim that it will work largely as leaks suggested back in November. While free videos will still hang around, a subscription will let you listen to songs ad-free, including whole albums. You should also get offline playback for those moments when streaming isn't an option.
YouTube's got big plans for web TV: specialized channels with niche and original content
YouTube's come quite a long way from its roots as a repository for random videos from the public. It's gone from "Chocolate Rain" and the Tron guy to streaming Disney classics and now creating original, quality content. The New Yorker spoke extensively with YouTube's Global Head of Content Robert Kyncl about the site's future plans, and YouTube's got its sights set on grabbing a big slice of TV's $300 billion pie. Kyncl thinks the future of TV is in niche content, and YouTube's original channels are just the vehicle to deliver it direct to your digital door. The site is commissioning people and companies to create the channels (as opposed to individual shows or pieces of content) which gives the creators freedom to program their channels as they see fit -- all YouTube asks is that they provide a certain number of hours of programming per week. This production model is apparently pretty attractive to content producers, given the talent that's on board and the amount of content that'll be rolling out over the next six months. The idea is that all the original content will get people watching YouTube for longer periods of time, and in turn grant more opportunities to reap ad revenue. Of course, these specialized channels don't provide the wide advertising reach of traditional television, but they do allow advertisers to target very specific audiences with focused ads. That presumably provides them with better bang for their buck. Time will tell if YouTube's new plan will win the war against traditional television and web TV (including Kyncl's former employer Netflix), but free, quality on-demand content certainly sounds good to us. Get a fuller accounting of Kyncl's vision at the source below, and feel free to sound off in the comments if you're picking up what he's putting down.
