YouTube Original Channel Initiative

History

In September 2012, twenty of the 100 original channels started getting at least 1 million views a week. In October, YouTube introduced 60 new original channels. Google invested an additional $200 million into the original programming as well. The top 25 original programs also averaged around 1 million views per week at the time of the announcement. However, in November, YouTube ended funding for more than 60% of the approximately 160 channels it financed as part of the initiative. After cancellation, YouTube kept all incoming revenue from these channels that failed to recoup their initial investments.

In November 2013, it was reported that the landing page for the original channels had become a redirect to a 404 error page, seemingly as a way for Google to remove any reference to the original channel initiative.

Content

The content of the YouTube Original Channel Initiative includes SourceFed, Young Hollywood, The Mom's View, The Wall Street Journal, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Crash Course, BadTeeth, i am OTHER, The Pet Collective, Epic Level TV, Geek & Sundry, MyMusic, Frederator Networks' Cartoon Hangover, The Spangler Effect, and The Multiverse among several others. Most participants in the program created channels through their production companies. The program also partnered with celebrities from traditional media such as singer Madonna and former professional basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, who were partners with the dance channel DanceOn and the Comedy Shaq Network, respectively.

One of Tubefilters articles includes a full list of the original channels,

Deadline Hollywood started tracking the weekly video view stats for all the channels part of YouTube's Original Channel Initiative in May 2012.

Participants included:

• Madonna
• Pharrell Williams
• Young Hollywood founder R.J. Williams
• former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal
• comedian Amy Poehler
• actor Ashton Kutcher
• The Office star Rainn Wilson
• comedian Kenny Hotz
• Motor Trend
• SourceFed
• spiritual doctor Deepak Chopra
• Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara
• Hank and John Green (via Vlogbrothers)

References

References

1. Marc Hustvedt. (Oct 28, 2011). "YouTube Reveals Original Channels". Tubefilter.
2. Ryan Nakashima. (Oct 29, 2011). "YouTube launching 100 new channels". USA Today.
3. Devindra Hardawar. (Oct 30, 2011). "YouTube’s original channels could be Google TV’s killer app". Venture Beat.
4. Sam Gutelle. (September 19, 2012). "20% of YouTube Original Channels Achieving One Million Views a Week". Tubefilter.
5. Annlee Ellingson. (October 9, 2012). "YouTube goes global with more original channels". Biz Journals.
6. Claire Cain Miller. (October 7, 2012). "YouTube to Serve Niche Tastes by Adding Channels". The New York Times.
7. Robert Kyncl. (October 7, 2012). "YouTube's original channels go global". The Official YouTube Blog.
8. (11 November 2012). "YouTube to cull poorly-performing original channels, 60 percent not getting renewed".
9. Sam Gutelle. (November 12, 2013). "YouTube Has Removed All References To Its Original Channels Initiative". Tubefilter.
10. Randy Kennedy. (January 18, 2012). "Museum of Contemporary Art to Create Original Programming for YouTube". The New York Times.
11. Alexei Oreskovic. (May 2, 2012). "YouTube covets TV gold with new channels". Reuters.
12. Eriq Gardner. (May 2, 2012). "Upfronts 2012: YouTube Announces New Channels".
13. The Deadline Team. (May 29, 2012). "New Feature: Deadline's Weekly YouTube Channel Rankings".