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YouTube To Make New Originals Available For Free, Ad-Supported Viewing (variety.com) 63

YouTube is removing the paywall for its original programming. Starting next year, the company will move to make all of its new original programming available for free for anyone to watch. "With the change, YouTube is moving toward more mainstream celebrity-driven and creator-based reality fare, while it will continue to greenlight scripted productions," reports Variety. From the report: Until now, YouTube Originals have mainly been available on its YouTube Premium subscription service, although YouTube also has expanded the shows and movies it makes available on an ad-supported basis. The company calls the new YouTube Originals strategy its "Single Slate," which will combine ad-supported and subscription VOD programming initiatives that by 2020 will provide free windows for all YouTube users. Some original productions will remain behind the paywall, including season 2 of "Cobra Kai," an offshoot of the "Karate Kid" movies. Moving forward, YouTube Premium will include early access to original, exclusive content as a reason to pay for the service. YouTube has faced stiff competition in trying to lure paying customers with original content against the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, which spend far more on content. "As we look to 2019, we will continue to invest in scripted programming and shift to make our YouTube Originals ad supported to meet the growing demand of a more global fanbase," a YouTube rep said in a statement. "This next phase of our originals strategy will expand the audience of our YouTube Original creators, and provide advertisers with incredible content that reaches the YouTube generation."
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YouTube To Make New Originals Available For Free, Ad-Supported Viewing

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  • potential (Score:4, Insightful)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @06:49PM (#57711792) Journal
    If you're a potential screenwriter or aspiring actor, there has never been a better time to get your stuff produced. If you like watching niche stuff, now is also your time. Enjoy.
  • That Youtube favors it's content over theirs to a chorus of UNFAIR.

  • by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt.nerdflat@com> on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @07:36PM (#57711964) Journal

    .... when the ads are inserted at reasonable locations for the content.

    Youtube inserts commercials right in the middle of a person talking and it always pisses me the hell off... The commercials are short, but it's still effing annoying.

    If they can't find a decent place to put their commercials, and they insist on monetizing it, then they should reject the video, and ask the uploader to insert blackouts where commercials can be put before reuploading it before it will be allowed to remain up.

    • Youtube inserts commercials right in the middle of a person talking and it always pisses me the hell off

      That's a great point - for all of the AI chops Google has, you'd think they could work on a way to shift the location of the ad by 10-20 seconds in either direction to be less interruptive. I've also found the breaks often come at a really terrible moment.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Anyone got a good solution for blocking YouTube ads on smart TVs?

      Ads are served from the same servers as the content now, so the old trick of DNS blocking doesn't work any more. If you have an Android TV box you can get a hacked YouTube app (assuming you trust it), but for smart TVs there isn't really anything you can do.

      YouTube Red is an option but isn't available in many places.

  • One Good Show (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SmaryJerry ( 2759091 ) on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @07:37PM (#57711966)
    This should be a good change. One good show from YouTube is a SciFi called Origin. On any other network or Netflix is would probably be reasonably popular but no know even knows it exists because its on YouTube Premium.
    • I tried to watch Origin, surprisingly rich looking production. People already noticed embarrassing scu fi gaffs, but in terms of CGI - very tastefully done.

  • by quenda ( 644621 ) on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @08:36PM (#57712202)

    How is advertising-supported TV going in the US?

    In Australia, the TV networks are circling the plug hole (anticlockwise, of course).
    Quality has gone through the floor - lots of "reality TV" and re-runs of imports.
    15 minutes of advertising per hour, not including the product placement and travel, home improvement, etc shows that look more like infomercials.

    Cable was super-expensive here (and still has adverts), so we were mostly moving to piracy and a bit of TIVO-ing until Netflix and the like arrived.

    So you-tube heading in that direction does not sound like a good thing.

    • by jrumney ( 197329 )
      The problem now is that there are too many Netflix-like silos with one good show each, so to watch the good shows you end up needing to subscribe to them all, or give up and pirate since there isn't really enough value in each one to justify the subscription. Making them advertising supported gets rid of the subscription barrier, and probably brings in more revenue due to the jump in the number of people watching that one good show through the official channel rather than pirating it. That said, I'm yet t
      • by quenda ( 644621 )

        The problem now is that there are too many Netflix-like silos with one good show each, so to watch the good shows you end up needing to subscribe to them all, or give up and pirate

        Another method is to switch between them when needed. You can even do a monthly rotation.
        If they start doing 12-month subscriptions, it will be back to the yo ho ho for me.

      • That said, I'm yet to find what YouTube's one good show is...

        It's the show where the plumber shows you how to unclog drains. That guy is a hoot.

        Better still, check out Scotty Kilmer's channel. He's an old-school mechanic who fixes up old cars. This guys tips have helped me out more than once. Plus, he's lit up like he just drank a couple of quarts of espresso.

        https://youtu.be/9PUTfxrPIfA [youtu.be]

        • Plus, he's lit up like he just drank a couple of quarts of espresso.

          That made me laugh because I had the same impression, but hadn't actually put my finger on it. Scotty is always fun to watch, even though he doesn't generally go into great detail. nonetheless, he is informative enough and entertaining to boot. He has a personality that translates to the screen very well.

        • Better still, check out Scotty Kilmer's channel. He's an old-school mechanic who fixes up old cars.

          I used to watch his show until the ninth or tenth time I saw him half-assing something, letting his cats crawl around in customer cars, etc. He's exactly the kind of guy who gives backyard mechanics a bad name.

    • by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @09:07PM (#57712318)

      How is advertising-supported TV going in the US?

      It turned into a shit-show, apparently just like in the land down under. Personally, I don't consider ad-supported to be free. They're just charging me in time and annoyance instead of money. I'm still irked over Amazon inserting a 30 second ad in front of episodes I watch on Prime. How many damned times do I have to watch the preview of The Man in the High Castle Season Two? I'm currently considering whether this is worth cancelling Prime over. I really only picked up Prime for the video service.

      Netflix has the right idea. Just send me an e-mail customized with some shows they figure I might enjoy watching based on my preference. I can always opt-out of it, but I don't mind seeing their recommendations, because it takes all of three second, not thirty seconds for each new show I start.

      • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Problem is the less ads you see the far more intrusive and annoying they become, really irritating. You must be accustomed to the, else they mainly piss you off. Tolerable is in content product sponsor messages, interruptions in content, gone in that moment, don't watch the rest, simply done, way too annoying, not going to put up with another rude interruption. The digital age has shifted content to be more like a personal experience. Think when you are talking to some one and then some clown in a costume c

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Netflix is also reasonably priced. £8/month for HD. YouTube Premium is £12/month!

        That's just silly money. I'd happily pay £2/month for ad-free. Don't care about the original stuff or music.

    • I enjoy a lot of CW shows, some fox ones, and a few on other networks.

      The ratio of good original content will be different since 60-90 of what you get from Netflix and HBO is reruns of movies and shows. They don't need to pad out a 24 hr day schedule.

      Also, different people like different things. The shows that you and I see as crap, other people love.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      How is advertising-supported TV going in the US?

      In Australia, the TV networks are circling the plug hole (anticlockwise, of course).
      Quality has gone through the floor - lots of "reality TV" and re-runs of imports.
      15 minutes of advertising per hour, not including the product placement and travel, home improvement, etc shows that look more like infomercials.

      Cable was super-expensive here (and still has adverts), so we were mostly moving to piracy and a bit of TIVO-ing until Netflix and the like arrived.

      So you

  • by Anonymous Coward

    With the change, YouTube is moving toward more mainstream celebrity-driven and creator-based reality fare

    So, it's not so much about users uploading content, it's about YouTube suddenly acting like they're a content producer and they're going to make 'original' drivel? So we'll call it UsTube instead?

    Wow, are these companies running out of a way to be what they started as? Seems like Facebook, YouTube, and everyone else are suddenly having delusions of producing video content.

    And more garbage reality TV wi

  • I have created plenty of content...for a demonized youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] If I only had 200 more subscribers. Sigh.
    • I see your point. You've got some great content!

      How do you find the good geek stuff and skip the fluff?

      I must not be good at searching for content on YT. I even support people via Patreon for good stuff.

  • by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @09:10PM (#57712326)

    The good news is that with all the streaming services creating "Original" content, we'll soon be at peak actor employment. Hopefully the new "studios" will actually create something of value, I'm not holding my breath though.

    The bad news: Your time at restaurants will go up significantly as no more wait staff will be available in NYC and LA.

  • It's not free if it's ad supported. Time is money. Where do people come up with these headlines. Nothing Alphabet does is free. Shun them.
  • If your platform requires advertisements it is dead to me. The internet revolution has provided communication that is cheap, universal, and most significantly, two way. The best content is produced by individuals who either share their work freely or use a patronage model for revenue. These people have genuinely diverse opinions and most importantly are not trying to sell you anything.

    We are no longer captive to commercial entities. Do not accept ads.

    • Do not accept ads.

      Ads are the reason I stopped listening to the radio over twenty years ago, and stopped watching broadcast TV about eight years ago. The ad-supported model always turns abusive, so I completely agree with your sentiment: do not accept ads.

  • Pushing ads in faces is not free. It comes at the cost of wasting time and pissing people off. It may be their website but luring people in with enticing videos only to shove ads in their faces is rude as hell. Having to pay off every individual website you use to avoid this is epidemic.. a disease..This is the reason many of us left cable television. In the 1980's, it was ads between and at intermission of a show. Now its more ads than show... brain damage inducing.

    The Internet was designed for informa

  • Or have I just imagined one?

    It looks like the subscription model has failed and YouTube is reverting.

    That's interesting because I see the TV and magazine revenue structure returning whereby we subscribe AND view ads.

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