Google, which owns YouTube, is stepping up YouTube’s strategy, started a year ago, to lure television viewers and advertisers by helping to produce high-quality videos that cater to niche interests. It plans to announce that it is adding more than 50 original channels to the 100 it has introduced in the last year and expanding original channels to France, Germany and Britain.
As part of the new effort, Google is investing a fresh USD 200 million in the channels — on top of the USD 100 million it invested last year — to market the shows, pay for production equipment and, in some cases, pay the full production costs. The new channels, which will carry advertising and be available free, include producers with major media experience. The top 25 original channels average more than a million views a week, according to the company, and in the year since original channels were introduced, people have increased the hours they spend watching YouTube each month to four billion from three billion.
In addition to financing production, YouTube sells ads for the video producers. It takes its initial investment out of the ad revenue. Video producers say that in addition to financial support, YouTube offers a way to bypass television’s frustratingly slow production schedule. Another contrast with traditional television is that it is much easier for video creators to get a start and gain a following.
YouTube says that minorities who have historically been underserved by network television, for instance, have popular channels on the site.
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