By Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg
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YouTube is offering millions of dollars to popular channels if they upload their videos to the site exclusively for a certain period of time, in an effort to halt Netflix Inc’s pursuit of its biggest stars, people familiar with the conversations said. The payment would come in a couple of different forms. YouTube has discussed directly financing some programs, and it has also offered to allot a portion of major brand deals to creators. Although YouTube has not finalized deals with any creators, it is close an agreement with several partners, said the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are sensitive and ongoing. Creators who do sign deals with Netflix face consequences, YouTube has said, according to the people. YouTube would be less likely to feature them in marketing campaigns or at events if they release videos on Netflix at the same time. YouTube would also exclude those creators from collecting a share of proceeds from some major brand campaigns.
A YouTube sign is pictured near the company’s headquarters in San Bruno, California, on March 12 last year.
Netflix has been pursuing agreements with dozens of prominent YouTubers, paying creators such as Alan Chikin Chow and Nick DiGiovanni to post their videos on YouTube and Netflix concurrently. The company remains in active conversations with dozens of other creators, channels and programs, such as Hot Ones, a celebrity talk show. The Netflix deals appeal to creators, because they are a way to get paid millions of additional dollars for videos they are already making and expose their programming to new viewers. Netflix has more than 325 million subscribers.
