Business is harsh. And things can change along the way, even when plans are already laid out.
This time, it is reported that Alphabet is scaling back YouTube Originals, as its executive, Susanne Daniels, who ran it for years announced her departure. Because of this, YouTube is abandoning its attempt to rival the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, by winding down its Originals subscription service after six years.
Daniels is a veteran TV executive who previously worked at Lifetime, MTV, and the WB Network. She also played a huge role in developing hit shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, Felicity and Gilmore Girls, among others.
Between the departure of Daniels and the growth of YouTube’s Partner Program, Google has made the decision to "reduce" the Originals slate.
The news was announced by YouTube's Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl.
The announcement effectively ends the production of most new YouTube Originals, ending a six-year long project in which the free Google-owned video and streaming platform tried to compete in subscription-based market.
YouTube Originals was launched back in 2016, as part of YouTube Red.
It's Google's very attempt to get into the tough subscription streaming market, in order to diversify its earnings from advertisements. The YouTube division was founded only to make YouTube more exclusive, by gathering original content for the pay-per-month YouTube Premium service.
As an extension of the YouTube platform, YouTube Originals allowed for higher-budget projects made by YouTube creators.
The project however, was met with a rough start. Later, a number of scripted shows had been canceled or sold to other networks, with a number of titles moving to competitors.
As a result of this, YouTube pivoted to unscripted content such as music, celebrity documentaries, reality programming, and educational fare.
In all, the Alphabet-owned video platform has paid out more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the past three years, and enrolled over two million creators into the Partner Program.
Kyncl cited this rapid growth, saying that YouTube can make a "greater impact" by investing in other initiatives.
"In short, YTO (YouTube Originals) played an integral role in growing the YouTube creator economy," Kyncl said in the post.
"Going forward, we will only be funding programs that are part of our Black Voices and YouTube Kids Funds," he said.
"However, with rapid growth comes new opportunities and now our investments can make a greater impact on even more creators when applied towards other initiatives."
An update on YouTube Originals: pic.twitter.com/PixhgZ2yhU
— Robert Kyncl (@rkyncl) January 18, 2022
With the termination of YouTube Originals, the company intends to honor its commitments to the shows in progress.
“We will honor our commitment for already contracted shows in progress and creators who are involved with those shows should expect to hear from us directly in the coming days,” Kyncl confirmed.
YouTube is the undisputed video-streaming platform, and the largest of its kind.
While it's the web's de facto platform, YouTube is never known as a place where original contents reside. All it does, is providing a platform where everyone else thrive with their own contents, apart from itself.
Its products, like YouTube Shorts, or YouTube Gaming, or YouTube Stores, are clones of competitors.
YouTube Originals was clone of Netflix, but with an intention to help it create original contents.
But with Alphabet shutting the project down, YouTube Originals is going down in history as a failed attempt YouTube made in its quest to find an identity in the subscription-based market.