YouTube to make all new originals free from next year

Every time we see people complaining about the Netflix subscription price being too high. And on some point, everybody agrees on that. So to solve the problem and create an option of streaming for people, YouTube has come up with a new strategy.

YouTube plans will make all future original programming available to users for free with advertising, as the video streaming unit of Alphabet Inc’s Google tries to gather a bigger audience for shows and movies that had mostly been confined to paid subscribers.

YouTube’s paid option will still remove ads from originals as well as all other videos, and it comes with music streaming benefits. YouTube said earlier on Tuesday that the new strategy will kick in next year.

YouTube has not revealed the total number of subscribers for the paid offering, launched three years ago, which is available in 29 countries. It said its move to make programming free was aimed at pleasing growing worldwide user interest in original programming and advertiser demand to associate with unique content. The move also gives the company more flexibility in marketing its programs.

The dozens of previously released shows and movies in YouTube Premium, such as the first season of popular action comedy “Cobra Kai,” will remain behind the paywall, the company said.

“As we look to 2019, we will continue to invest in scripted programming and shift to make our YouTube Originals ad-supported to meet the growing demand of a more global fanbase,” a YouTube representative told the reporters. “This next phase of our originals strategy will expand the audience of our YouTube Original creators and provide advertisers with incredible content that reaches the YouTube generation.”