Just as Apple gets ready to announce its streaming service, complete with original programming, another tech giant is preparing to bow out. According to Bloomberg, YouTube is canceling many of its “Hollywood-quality" shows and plans to pull out of producing most of its original content for its YouTube Premium subscription service. Shows like sci-fi thriller Origin and comedy series Overthinking with Kat & June are said to be among those being canceled by YouTube. YouTube is looking to renew at least one of its most popular hit shows, however. The company is currently in negotiations for a third season of its Karate Kid-based TV Series, Cobra Kai. Premium series content that exists on YouTube will also soon no longer require a paid subscription. The Google-owned company announced in November that it would eventually move its existing library of shows to its free platform. Even after launching its ad-free YouTube Premium subscription service last May, YouTube has seemingly been doubling-down on its ad-supported model. The company has experimented with new ad formats over the past year and even doubled down on free premium content when it launched a “Free to watch” section on its paid “Moves & Shows” vertical. The video platform doesn’t look to be giving up on its subscription service as a whole. YouTube Premium still provides users with an ad-free YouTube experience. The video platform also runs a subscription-based music service, YouTube Music, which was basically spun off of the company’s original subscription model, YouTube Red. YouTube’s real paid push going forward is likely its YouTube TV service. The company has heavily promoted its live TV service over that past few months, as cord cutting becomes increasingly popular. The service currently offers more than 60 channels to the top 100 U.S. television markets and unlimited DVR without the need for a cable subscription. YouTube charges $40 for the service — as opposed to $11.99 for YouTube Premium — and doesn’t need to take risks on financing expensive TV productions. The video streaming service market has become an extremely competitive market. Apple is set to announce its own video streaming service, complete with its own original content. Disney is readying the launch of its own streaming service, Disney+, with its library of classic family films as well as original series’ based on its Star Wars and Marvel characters. In order to hold its top spots in the industry, Netflix and Amazon Prime are committed to creating even more big-budget original content for its subscription services. Given the timing, it’s still especially interesting to see YouTube and, along with it, Google, scrap its efforts to compete in the video streaming space. UPDATE: March 25, 2019, 12:56 p.m. EDT While both Origin and Overthinking with Kat & June are not returning, YouTube is denying other aspects of Bloomberg's report. YouTube provided the following statement. "YouTube denies the report, pointing to its full and robust slate that has several scripted projects in development. Furthermore, YouTube says it is steadily building its SVOD business, while also developing new series and formats that will appeal to a global audience through a new ad-supported model that will be in place for all of our series and events by the end of the year. They are expected to unveil a new slate of new and returning hits in the coming weeks."
YouTube is set to cancel much of the original content it has been developing for its Premium subscription service. The company said in a blog post that it will be canceling all new videos and episodes from now until at least March 31, 2018. YouTube said in response to reports of the cancellations that it was "developing new series and formats that will appeal to a global audience through a new ad-supported model".