The DIY video site is going gung-ho on TV – with 96 channels in the pipeline. YouTube are hooking up with the likes of Madonna, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal to give web surfers everything from pop to news and sports to keep them online.
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The 96 channels includes KickTV – a soccer channel , Pop Spot (music, celeb gossip) as well as a women’s lifestyle channel and Motor Trend for car nuts.
And it will even have an animal and pets channel.
On the media side, The Onion, Cosmopolitan owner Hearst and Slate as well as major media names like Wall Street Journal and Reuters are all providing programming for YouTube venture.
“These channels will have something for everyone, whether you’re a mom, a comedy fan, a sports nut, a music lover or a pop-culture maven,” YouTube’s Robert Kyncl, Head of Content Partnerships, said in a blog post Saturday.
“Talented creators and original entertainment will soon join YouTube’s existing channel lineup, including channels created by well-known personalities and content producers from the TV, film, music, news, and sports fields”.
These ‘creators’ include social media fiend Ashton Kutcher, Madonna, Jay-Z and Shaquille O’Neal, who will all contribute programming to Google’s $100m plus venture in its most serious bid to go pro.
TV studios coming on board the YouTube TV train include FreemantleMedia – who make Australian Idol, Australia’s Got Talent and The Biggest Loser Down Under as well Lionsgate – behind series hits like Mad Men.
Ad-venture
And despite the major costs involved (believed to be forking out $100m to production companies), Google owned YouTube are clearly the hoping it will pay off in advertisments.
“And for advertisers, these channels will represent a new way to engage and reach their global consumers”Kyncl said in his blog.
The first of these new original channels will appear on YouTube starting this month and will continue to be rolled out over the next year.
