What you need to know
- YouTube's global head of original content has announced her departure.
- Going forward, the company will focus less on YouTube Originals and more on creator funds.
- YouTube will continue investing in Shorts, Black Voices, Live Shopping, and more.
YouTube is changing how it approaches content as the global head of Originals, Susanne Daniels, prepares to exit the company in March.
On Tuesday, YouTube's chief business officer, Robert Kyncl, announced plans to "reduce our YouTube Originals slate." Instead, the company will focus its efforts on helping creators through its programs such as its Black Voices and YouTube Kids funds.
"Today there are more than 2M creators in the YouTube Partner Program and our creator community has never been more successful: we've paid more than $30B to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years." Kyncl said in a statement posted to Twitter.
"However, with rapid growth comes new opportunities and now our investments can make a greater impact for even more creators wen applied towards other initiatives, like our Creator Shorts Fund, Black Voices Fund, and Live Shopping programming to name a few."
Kyncl states that YouTube will honor its current commitments for Originals programming and that creators involved will hear directly from the company soon.
YouTube Originals was started in 2016 as a way for the platform to compete against the likes of Netflix and others, which continue to surge in paid subscribers. The content is accessible through the YouTube Premium subscription, giving viewers more incentive to subscribe.
Over the years, YouTube Originals has gained popularity thanks to content like "Cobra Kai," "Step Up," "Justin Bieber: Seasons," and more. That said, a number of shows, such as "Cobra Kai," have taken refuge on other platforms as YouTube pivoted away from scripted shows, which seems like a huge loss given the popularity of the content.
