‘YouTube will stop producing major drama and comedy series’ – update
YouTube has canceled plans for major dramas and comedy series. New series proposals will not be accepted and episodes already ordered will be cancelled. The reason for the cancellation would be the high cost of the series.
Bloomberg reports this citing anonymous sources. Sci-fi drama Origin and comedy series Overthinking with Kat & June, among others, have been canceled by YouTube. The producers behind the series now have to look for other media channels.
According to the sources, parent company Google no longer wants to invest in the so-called YouTube Originals because of the high costs of billions of euros that are involved. According to the sources, YouTube earned more than 13 billion euros from advertisements last year without needing many large productions. That money could be better invested in music and gaming, Google concluded, according to the sources.
At the end of last year, YouTube already announced that it would make the Originals videos available to all users. This was decided because it would be more lucrative. Before that, the videos were only available to users with the YouTube Premium subscription; those members will still have early access to the videos.
According to Bloomberg sources, YouTube is still figuring out how to release Originals series. Smaller and cheaper series such as Cobra Kai, a Karate Kid reboot, will continue to appear on the medium, according to the sources. For example, Cobra Kai is now negotiating a third season.
The first YouTube Originals videos appeared on the video site in early 2016. At that time, they were only available with YouTube Red, which was rebranded to Youtube Premium last year. YouTube Premium costs twelve euros per month, which gives users, in addition to access to the Originals videos, also the option to download videos. Also, videos can be watched without ads and movies can be run in the background of the phone. Subscribers also get a YouTube Music Premium subscription.
Update, Tuesday, 07.25: YouTube has issued an official response to the post: “We have a full and solid line of originals, including a number of scripted projects currently in production. We are broadening our development and actively developing formats and series with global appeal. We continue to continue to grow thriving svod business and open access to a global audience through a new ad-supported model that will be in effect for all our series and events by the end of the year We are already announcing our strategy to advertisers and will unveil a robust lineup of new and returning originals in the coming weeks.”