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YouTube has canceled its high-end drama and comedy projects, say knowledgeable people, a setback in its high-paying service ambitions with Hollywood-quality programming.
The company owned by Google has stopped accepting. sites for expensive scripted shows, said the people who asked not to be identified because the decision was not announced. The programs include the science fiction drama "Origin" and the comedy "Overthinking with Kat & June", inviting their producers to look for new venues for the shows, people said.
The withdrawal from direct competition with Netflix Inc. and Premium Video from Amazon.com Inc. reflects the high cost – in billions of dollars – required to face these deeply entrenched players, even for a wealthy giant of technology. like Google, people said. Last year, YouTube generated more than $ 15 billion in ad sales without a multitude of glitzy productions and concluded that its money was better invested in music and games.
"In some ways, they never really got into strategy," said Anthony DiClemente, an badyst at Evercore ISI. "It's like bringing a butter knife to a fight."
Shift to Free
This change in strategy, announced for the first time last November by the Hollywood Reporter, means that all shows on YouTube will eventually be released free of charge. . The company is still working on exit strategies for the shows, people said.
This change also raises questions about the long-term future of Susanne Daniels, who has been responsible for YouTube's original productions since 2015. She has been asked to increase the volume. and the quality of YouTube's original programming and is now looking to move on, according to people who know his thoughts.
"While it's oddly flattering to be the subject of Hollywood gossip, know that I'm attached to YouTube and I can not. We're waiting to unveil our strong catalog of new and old originals," he says. Daniels said in an email.
Daniels, a veteran of the television industry, joined the company to develop and produce original programming to make the YouTube Red subscription service a viable competitor. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Now, these efforts are more focused on programs such as Kevin Hart's "What the Fit" with comedian cheerleading in sweatpants. in one of the largest Hollywood studios, other technology companies have announced their intention to make movies and television before retiring after a few years. Microsoft Corp. created a studio in Los Angeles and commissioned a show based on his popular game "Halo", but was closed before the release of the series. Yahoo lost $ 42 million on a trio of original series, including "Community," and then abandoned plans as well.
Apple Inc. will announce Monday its first series of original series, and badysts are already asking it if the company already has the stomach of Hollywood
The transition of YouTube marks at least the third restart of the company over the last decade and points out what Hollywood executives view as the industry's capricious approach to entertainment technology. In 2012, he paid producers and celebrities for the creation of YouTube channels to bring more high-end original programming to a site badociated with videos and jokes for cats. The company doubled its investment a year later, but then completed the program.
WB Roots
The arrival of Daniels marked the beginning of a new approach. She joined YouTube at MTV and previously led the television networks Lifetime and WB, now known as CW. At the WB, Daniels led the hit series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek".
Daniels has commissioned more than two dozen programs, while funding video-born talents such as Swedish vlogger PewDiePie. She has also mixed more traditional Hollywood talents, such as actress Kirsten Dunst and Doug Liman, director of "The Bourne Identity".
The biggest success of YouTube under Daniels was "Cobra Kai", a television series derived from the movie "The Karate Kid. According to Parrot Analytics, the show was the most popular program of all streaming services. And the company is negotiating for a third season, people said.
The originals that will still exist on YouTube will now go from the paid service to the free version of YouTube, where they will live alongside video blogs, makeup tutorials and unboxing toys.
YouTube Red, on the other hand, has been renamed as a paid music service. The company has commissioned short series featuring emerging artists Maggie Rogers and Gunna, which Daniels oversees a bit. But no program can be approved without the contribution of Lyor Cohen, head of music on YouTube. He vetoed a documentary about the Jonas Brothers, a trio of pop, and the project landed at Amazon.
"It's not because a big tech company wants to get into the media that it's going to succeed. , "said Rich Greenfield, badyst at BTIG Research.
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