I wrote a while back about the fact that YouTube had a lot of money to spend on ‘original programming’ when they foolishly thought they could create Premium Content that people will pay for. They were completely rinsed by average programming that made no dent on making them anything other than a site where you can ‘upload your shit for free’. Their original success is also the stigma attached to their brand. They created their own monster and still have to sleep with it. The people commissioning these programmes had no quality control filter much like the current SVOD champions.

The difference now that they are trying the same approach again? Maybe they have become wiser.

As a comparison, Amazon Prime and  Netflix have shown that people will pay a premium to watch content online but they never started out giving stuff away for free and giving viewers the concept they don’t have to pay for it. Just ask the decimated press industry who are stuck with advertising and declining print sales as their main revenue. The Sun tried to keep their content behind a paywall but they had to eventually capitulate. Strangely the only subscriptions i have are Broadcastnow.co.uk and Private Eye Magazine who have specific content i crave for.

I sincerely hope YouTube have learned their lesson and actually have people who can get quality media that people are willing to pay for. Maybe they learned their lesson? time will tell.