As children of the lightning-fast cyber age, Columbians are used to quick changes in online content. But the YouTube redesign that is pushing the legal streaming of TV shows over original content has fans doing a double take, wondering if the company is essentially removing the “You” from YouTube.
Last Thursday, YouTube Product Manager Shiva Rajaraman and Entertainment Marketing Manager Sara Pollack announced on the company’s official blog that there would be a new “Shows” tab added to the YouTube masthead. The tab allows users to browse TV shows by network, genre, title, and popularity in this first legal and official debut of television shows on YouTube.
Prior to this point, individual users would illegally upload snippets of their favorite shows, many of which would have to be removed after the networks complained of copyright infringement. This new partnership, however, links YouTube with various networks like CBS to bring viewers more TV shows legally.
But there’s a catch: there are now advertisements wedged between the newly added episodes. According to Rajaraman and Pollack, this “wider roll-out of in-stream ads” will help pay the fees for legally uploading content that belongs to other companies. These ads, part of a larger effort by YouTube to turn a greater profit, will be similar to those that play between segments on networks’ own Web sites, but not through original user content.
The blog post received immediate and passionate responses from commenters. Many argued that YouTube should not have made these changes, worrying that the site’s original content, like the rapidly growing Web series market, would get less attention because of the new focus on premium content.
But on the whole, Columbia students, who are a part of the age bracket that has most enthusiastically embraced Web series and viral videos, do not seem too worried about this possibility. “I’m fine with them adding more television shows, and I don’t think we’ll see a decrease in original content. I feel like the reason people like YouTube is because people can make their own videos, and I don’t think that will ever change,” said Laura Erstad, CC ’12. Ella Magun, CC ’12, agreed, explaining, “As long as people are bored, they are going to keep making and watching viral videos.”
Some even see this shift as an improvement to their online TV-watching experience, pointing to the speed at which YouTube videos load as a plus. Genevieve Jacobson, CC ’12, said, “I would rather watch YouTube videos that load quickly than wait for the show to load on a site like Youku.”
Others worry about the quality of shows posted on YouTube. Yang Li, CC ’10, said, “If they do upload shows onto YouTube, they’re not going to be of high quality. I would watch only if there were going to be shows not posted online.” Kerry Li, CC ’10 agreed that the quality of the new content was important: “I would watch TV on YouTube if the quality were good.”
To see how the site expands on or diverges from its original purpose, YouTube fans and TV junkies alike will just have to stay tuned.
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