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Why YouTube Exited the Original Content Business: ‘We Weren’t Good at Picking Content’


YouTube once tried to compete with the likes of Netflix with a slate of originals. YouTube chief Neal Mohan explains why the strategy didn't pan out.

Daniels, who had been MTV’s head of programming and a top exec at the WB and Lifetime, led the team that greenlit series featuring YouTube creators like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Rhett & Link and Liza Koshy, as well as scripted originals like “Karate Kid” offshoot “ Cobra Kai.” Neal Mohan, who became YouTube’s CEO in February 2023, says the one-time thesis was that the platform could give a boost to homegrown creators by financing bigger-ticket productions — and then share in the upside. YouTube’s push into funding original programming and subsequent pullback raises a question: Does traditional studio-produced content yield better economics for creators and platforms?

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