YouTube claims its first new free program under free strategy

NEW YORK / SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube channel unveiled Thursday nine new, original programs that will be available for free this year, as the streaming service reduces its efforts to attract subscribers whose content is exclusively protected by a paywall. The unveiling at a YouTube event for advertisers and the media in New York gave a first glimpse of how the transition announced in November, the abandonment of subscriber content will take place around the world .

Programming is less appealing to YouTube Premium subscribers than ad-free viewing and other benefits, while YouTube is under pressure from advertisers to increase its offer of sponsorship-type TV content.

New programs include a documentary about Dude Perfect, a sports tour group on YouTube, and an interactive series featuring YouTube star Mark Fischbach, which allows viewers to control the screenplay.

An investigative program from the Vox media start-up and a series of independent films from The School of Life, broadcast on YouTube, are also available. They "explore some of the greatest philosophical issues of our time," YouTube said.

More programs are expected to be announced later this year, including an international list. While YouTube is looking to expand its audience to original programming, it plans to allocate half of its development budget to programs for viewers outside the United States, according to someone close to the record.

YouTube said its overall programming spend was consistent with previous years. Alphabet does not disclose the financial results of YouTube, which is part of Google, but financial badysts have worried this week that the painstaking review by advertisers of inappropriate or offensive content generated by users on YouTube could explain the slowdown in Google's revenue growth.

Ads are the core business of YouTube. Leaders said Thursday want to align the original content branch on the entire business.

"While all other media companies are building a payment wall, we are moving in the opposite direction," said YouTube sales director Kyncl in a statement.

YouTube said that it was still testing the content benefits for subscribers. For example, all episodes of the upcoming season of his popular show "Cobra Kai", based on the Karate Kid film franchise, will be available to subscribers at its launch. Non-subscribers will have access to a new episode a week, similar to the deployment of shows on traditional television.

The new episodes of a handful of existing broadcasts will likely remain reserved for subscribers due to previous commitments, YouTube said.

GLOBAL FOCUS

On Thursday, YouTube only featured an international program, a documentary that was to take place in June on Latin American pop star Maluma. Over the past year, YouTube has aired about a dozen original international programs and films, where it has been a great opportunity to get subscribers, particularly in France, Germany, India, South Korea and Japan.

Since 2011, YouTube has changed program several times with the original programming. One of the debates was whether advertising sales alone would be enough to generate a return on investment, especially for expensive scripted shows. Overall, YouTube made its debut with approximately 75 shows and 28 films as part of its previous strategy, launched in 2016, according to Reuters count. To date, 13 of these programs have been broadcast over several seasons. Although some shows attracted a significant number of viewers for free samples, they were not renewed as they struggled to convert users into subscribers, according to the content makers.

YouTube declined to comment on the numbers or the evaluation process.

The streaming service also announced two projects planned for next year with world stars: a documentary on the Paris Hilton model and a secret project with singer Justin Bieber.