YouTube Reduces YouTube Originals

YouTube’s current operations of the YouTube Originals division are officially ending after six years of working on various productions.

YouTube’s Originals segment will not be fully eliminated, but the Google-owned video service will be considerably reducing its Originals activities in the future.

This decision was taken as part of a larger refocusing effort within the firm centered around the continued growth of YouTube’s Partner Program, which currently has over two million creators, according to Robert Kyncl, the company’s chief commercial officer. Over the last three years, the platform has paid out more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies, and it wants to look into other areas where it can make a bigger difference.

YouTube will now focus on sponsoring projects related to its Black Voices and YouTube Kids Funds, rather than working on a large number of Originals behind the scenes. The Creator Shorts Fund and Live Shopping programming were both mentioned as being used in the future. The platform will stick to its word when it comes to concerts that are already underway. Anyone participating in any of those projects will be contacted as soon as possible.

Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s global president of original content, who will be departing the company in March after seven years, formerly led the Originals division, which was founded in 2016. 

YIAY Time: The Game Show with Jacksfilms, documentaries, musical performances, and unscripted content by notable celebrities such as Will Smith, Kevin Hart, Taylor Swift, and others were made while the YouTube Originals brand was in full production. Cobra Kai, the Karate Kid sequel series, was arguably its most successful product, with two seasons as a YouTube Original before being picked up by Netflix for a third season in 2019, reaching a far larger audience and enjoying a second wave of success.