YouTube is offering creators millions of dollars, but there's one condition
YouTube is pressuring popular creators to sign exclusivity deals, threatening to reduce their visibility and revenue if they cross-post content to platforms like Netflix. This strategy aims to keep audiences within the YouTube ecosystem by leveraging the platform's massive reach and brand campaign access.
Why it matters
This move signals an intensifying 'streaming war' for creator talent, potentially limiting content availability for viewers and altering how independent creators monetize their work.
YouTube has started reaching for its chequebook, and the terms are unusually blunt. The platform is offering popular channels millions of dollars to post their videos on YouTube first and keep them there exclusively for a set window, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the talks. The money would come in more than one shape. YouTube has discussed directly financing some programmes, and has also offered to hand creators a slice of the large brand campaigns it controls.Then comes the condition. Creators who sign with Netflix and release videos on both platforms at the same time will face consequences, YouTube has told them. Those channels are less likely to be pushed in marketing campaigns or given stage time at YouTube events, and they would be cut out of revenue from certain big brand campaigns.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in