These days it’s starting to become more common to see online video platforms invest in original content of their own. In fact according to a report from Bloomberg, YouTube is expected to spend a few hundred million on TV shows and movies for 2018, but it seems that that wasn’t really the point of the report.To most people, a few hundred million is an insane amount of money, money that many would never see in their lifetime, but as far as entertainment is concerned, a few hundred million actually means that YouTube would be spending less than the competition. In fact a few hundred million is essentially YouTube keeping to the same spending budget, meaning that YouTube could potentially lose out to the competition who might be willing to invest more to bring big names and shows onto their platform.
Responding to Bloomberg’s article, Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business officer said, “YouTube Originals are a driving force for YouTube Red, and we have a full slate of Originals already planned for 2018 and 2019. While we don’t comment on speculation regarding our budgets, you’ll see us continue to invest heavily in original programming as we ramp up our overall efforts to promote YouTube Red over the next year.”
It is possible that YouTube could be sitting back and seeing how the competition does, although if that is the case they probably shouldn’t wait too long, especially with reports that Apple also has some pretty huge TV and movie plans of their own, plus Disney’s own streaming service is set for a launch in 2019 as well.
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