Google advances funds for 60 more YouTube Channels
updated 05:14 am EDT, Mon October 8, 2012
Funds to go towards content creators, support systems
Google has accelerated its plans for premium channels on YouTube for the next year. Funds for a further 60 original channels have been advanced to content creators in the US, France, Germany, and the UK, which will add to the existing 100-channel YouTube programming roster created in the last 12 months.
Although it has not been said how much funding has gone towards these new plans, it will be a significant amount of money. In July, Google put forward $200 million to the scheme, on top of the original $150 million used to start the program. Aside from going to content producers, the funds have been used to market the videos, as well as helping creators improve their work with initiatives such as the London "Creator Space".
According to YouTube, the original 25 channels it launched are averaging over a million views per week. Subscriber rates are doubling year-on-year, with partners hitting the 100,000 subscriber milestone five times faster compared to two years ago. Over 800 million viewers are now watching 4 billion hours of video on YouTube each month. [via YouTube Blog]
