YouTube is reportedly offering millions of dollars to some of its biggest creators in an effort to keep their videos exclusive to the platform and prevent them from making deals with Netflix.
The move comes as Netflix continues to expand its creator-led content and signs deals involving established YouTube personalities and channels.
YouTube is discussing multi-million-dollar payments with select creators in exchange for keeping their videos exclusively on YouTube for a fixed period.
The company is considering different types of financial incentives. In some cases, YouTube could directly finance creators’ production costs. In others, it could guarantee creators a share of revenue from major brand deals arranged through the platform.
Creators who continue signing Netflix deals could also miss out on some YouTube benefits, including marketing support, events, and access to certain platform-wide brand deals.
The discussions are still at an early stage, and no formal exclusivity agreements have been announced.
Netflix has been expanding its relationships with established online creators over the past year.
Creators and companies including Alan Chikin Chow, Nick DiGiovanni, Mythical Entertainment, and children’s creator Ms Rachel have been involved in deals with Netflix.
Some of Netflix’s earlier arrangements focused on licensing existing creator content. More recent deals have expanded into producing new content and original shows.
For creators, Netflix provides another source of revenue while putting their content in front of its more than 325 million subscribers.
Having the same videos available on both YouTube and Netflix creates additional competition for YouTube, particularly as the company increasingly competes for viewers watching content on televisions.
It can also make YouTube’s advertising proposition less attractive when the same popular content is available through Netflix without YouTube’s advertising.
YouTube has traditionally relied on sharing advertising revenue with creators instead of directly financing individual productions. Offering large exclusivity payments therefore represents a significant change in how the platform competes for top creators.
YouTube says it has paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the past four years.
As Netflix continues to expand into creator-led programming, the latest offers show that competition between the two platforms is moving beyond viewers and into a battle for the creators themselves.
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