Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s former global head of original content, looks back proudly at the content output during her tenure — from Doug Liman’s “Impulse” and “Cobra Kai” to collaborating with YouTubers Liza Koshy and Joey Graceffa on original series.
YouTube Originals went through several strategies — including subscription and ad-based models, and a pivot from scripted to unscripted programming in 2019, Variety reported — before dissolving in 2022.
Daniels said she found the number of pivots frustrating, and said the biggest challenge was that YouTube operates as a technology company rather than a media business. Its success as a distribution platform for user-generated content meant it didn’t necessarily need to play the long game of original content.
“YouTube Originals was a square peg in a round hole — constantly having to pave roads where there already should have been — from production issues to business deal issues and everything in between,” she said. “We never had the support system internally nor the resources we needed to succeed — not to mention a crushingly limited budget for production and marketing.”
But Daniels said she was inspired by her team and felt she could have made YouTube Originals a valuable asset with more support.
“It was definitely a unique and rewarding experience in many ways,” she said.
A YouTube spokesperson said that while Originals served to turbocharge its content ecosystem, the creator community has now evolved to produce increasingly sophisticated content.
The company is still in the business of original content, the spokesperson argued, by investing directly in its community of creators and artists.
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