YouTube has always been a haven for amateur videographers trying to find their 15 minutes of fame, but now parent company Google is getting ready to implement some new features to give the service a more refined image.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is planning to spend up to $100 million dollars to give the popular video website a “major overhaul” to include a variety of topic-based premium channels and original programming produced by professionals in the industry.
“The site is planning a series of changes to its home page to highlight sets of "channels" around topics such as arts and sports,” the report states. “About 20 or so of those channels will feature several hours of professionally produced original programming a week, some of these people said. Additional channels would be assembled from content already on the site.”
The changes are all designed to help YouTube compete with cable TV and broadcast networks, says sources that the paper only refers to as “people familiar with the matter.” More likely, however, is the fact that Google is watching competing streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu securing their own professionally produced original programming and doesn’t want to be left behind. The site has also reportedly been in talks with studios to secure popular movies, however those efforts have yet to be fruitful.
So why the sudden major focus on professional content rather than the rough, amateur video the site is known for? It’s quite possibly because Google wants to turn the service into a profit-generating business. Despite YouTube’s status as the number three website in the world in terms of visitors and $544 million in net revenues last year, executives have stated that it is only “close to being profitable.”
I think these changes are great as long as Google doesn’t completely abandon YouTube’s rough-around-the-edges heritage and “Broadcast Yourself” mantra. Without that, they’re basically just another Hulu.
