The eighth annual VidCon starts today, and all eyes are on YouTube, the world’s biggest platform for online video. It’s been almost two years since the company announced Red, its subscription service, and began creating ad-free original content that would exist behind a paywall. While the company hasn’t shared any hard subscriber numbers yet, it’s made clear that its bet on original programming is only going to grow. The audience is massive enough. The company announced today that more than 1.5 billion users log in every month, with each person consuming an average of one hour of mobile video per day.
For its first season, YouTube Red produced 24 films and series. This year, the company plans to produce more than 40 originals, and will reportedly commit hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort. While expanding its efforts around originals, YouTube is also making one major strategic change. The first slate of original programming was built exclusively around homegrown talent like PewDiePie and Lily Singh, but the next phase of YouTube-produced shows will also feature shows built around celebrities including Katy Perry, Kevin Hart, Ellen DeGeneres, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Can YouTube attract older viewers?
“We think we can have both,” said Susanne Daniels, a veteran of MTV who joined YouTube to lead its original programming efforts. The first season of YouTube Red originals have so far garnered just under 250 million views, but the audience was heavily concentrated among kids under the age of 18. By bringing on well-known celebrities and franchises, Daniels is hoping to expand that demographic. “The future will be more like 50 percent homegrown YouTube stars and 50 percent programming that isn’t endemic to the platform.”
YouTube isn’t aiming to make highbrow drama like House of Cards or Transparent — at least not yet. It’s hoping to extend its reach with series like Step Up, a popular film franchise with proven global appeal that resonates with one of the key genres on YouTube: dance videos. And while Lionsgate will produce the series, plenty of native YouTube talent will be featured. Daniels is also betting her audience will move beyond the 10- and 20-minute videos shown during Red’s first season. For Step Up, episodes over 40 minutes are in the works. The original programming also gets prime real estate on YouTube TV, which announced today that it’s expanding from five to 15 markets.