YouTube has ‘no interest’ in returning to originals

YouTube’s EMEA chief has poured cold water on any plans on returning to original programming, revealing the Google platform has “no interest whatsoever about producing our own content”. 

Pedro Pina, vice-president of YouTube in the region, told delegates at Mip London the company had tried originals but in following the mantra of “fail fast and move on”, landed on the knowledge that parent company Alphabet was better at “producing platforms” to allow other creators to thrive.  

YouTube’s foray into original programming yielded splashy and expensive dramas including Cobra Kai and Origin before the media giant pulled back from scripted projects in 2019 and ended its originals output in 2023. 

“We provide platforms and others get on board. So, we’re not interested in producing content,” Pina said. “Therefore, for us to be successful we need other people to put the content in.  

“Our commercial success will only exist if other people are successful with their content – from kids all the way up to traditional content producers.”  

Pina said the way YouTube determines that success is the “pioneering” revenue share model, which allows content creators to monetise their content with a majority of the return, while YouTube takes the remainder. The split for long-form content is 55/45 in favour of creators. 

“The deal we have with Cristiano Ronaldo is the same that we have with a kid that started their first video yesterday in their bedroom,” he added. “More than half of the money we make, usually through advertising, we’ll share with you.”

Pina also played down concerns of viewer cannibalisation on the platform, adding that the audience YouTube brings is “complementary to what you already have today”. 

Long-form bingeing in the living room 

One of YouTube’s focuses is its power to compete with traditional broadcasters through connected TVs (CTVs) in the living room, using data to show audiences are increasingly consuming short-form content alongside traditional long-form programming. 

“Some of the highest consumption stats on [YouTube’s short-form content section] Shorts are actually in the living room and the big screen. But long-form is very present [in our consumption data]. 

“Really long-format, four-hour videos are being binged, the famous bingeing is happening on YouTube playlists in the living room. People are spending time on YouTube like they would do on regular streamers like Netflix or Amazon.”