According to Bloomberg, YouTube is considering directly financing creators’ programs and giving them a share of major branding deals, provided their videos appear on YouTube before any competing service.
Creators who sign deals with Netflix could also face consequences from YouTube, according to the report. YouTube may be less likely to feature such creators in marketing campaigns or company events and could exclude them from some joint branding opportunities if they simultaneously distribute content on Netflix.
YouTube
(Photo: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Netflix, which has more than 325 million subscribers, is reportedly in talks with dozens of prominent YouTube creators, including some who already distribute content across both platforms.
For creators, Netflix offers another revenue stream for content they may already be producing, while also providing exposure to a different audience. However, some creators have held back because Netflix requires videos to be submitted days in advance and has asked for certain commercial sponsorships to be removed from the content.
For nearly two decades, YouTube and Netflix were effectively friendly competitors occupying different corners of the entertainment market. In recent years, however, the boundaries have blurred dramatically.
YouTube has become the leading platform for television viewing in the U.S. and has expanded into premium entertainment and sports rights, including major events such as the Oscars and NFL games.
Netflix, meanwhile, has moved further into areas traditionally associated with YouTube. It has acquired rights to popular children’s programming such as CoComelon and has increasingly courted established YouTube personalities in an effort to attract younger viewers.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has previously argued that creators who work with competing platforms ultimately send viewers back to YouTube. But in recent weeks, Mohan and other executives have reportedly concluded that simultaneous distribution on Netflix has become a more serious problem, particularly because it can make YouTube advertising harder to sell.
It would not be the first time YouTube has used financial incentives or product changes to counter a rival. The company previously paid creators who agreed not to work with the competing video platform Vessel and later developed its short-form video format, Shorts, as TikTok surged in popularity.