Variety reports that Google’s original video content group, YouTube Originals, is dead. The YouTube division was founded six years ago to make exclusive, original content for the pay-per-month YouTube Premium service. Now the group is being shuttered, and YouTube’s global head of original content, Susanne Daniels, is leaving the company in March.
Just after the news broke, YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl posted a statement on Twitter:
An update on YouTube Originals: pic.twitter.com/PixhgZ2yhU
— Robert Kyncl (@rkyncl) January 18, 2022
YouTube is the web’s de facto video site, but the company still consistently works to chase whatever the hot new thing in web video is. YouTube Shorts is a clone of TikTok. YouTube Gaming is a clone of Twitch. YouTube Stores were meant as an answer to Snapchat. YouTube Originals was a swipe at Netflix, which, back in 2016, was turning heads with award-winning shows like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Back then, the $12-a-month YouTube Premium started life as “YouTube Red,” and its offerings were called YouTube Red Originals.
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