YouTube Originals will soon be free to watch for everyone

YouTube is changing its original content strategy.

Starting next year, YouTube will make its original content free to watch on the platform. Previously, the company's scripted shows like the Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai were only made available to users who paid for its subscription offering, YouTube Premium. For non-Premium subscribers, YouTube's free to watch originals will be ad-supported.

YouTube will also pull back on its scripted original content in 2020 as it reduces its production budget in light of the pivot in strategy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The video platform's paid subscription service originally launched in 2015 as YouTube Red. The company rebranded the service as YouTube Premium last year. In the early days of the subscription service, the platform's original content mostly consisted of premium series’ starring YouTube creators like PewDiePie. Not too long after, the site started investing in higher quality productions with films like Step Up: High Water, based on the dance movie franchise, and the sci-fi series “Origin” from the same production company who created Netflix’s The Crown. Read more...