YouTube is quietly testing a new way to keep its biggest stars from wandering: multimillion-dollar exclusivity checks. Business Insider reports that the platform has been approaching a select group of creators in recent weeks with verbal offers worth "in the millions" if they agree to keep their videos on YouTube alone for a set period. Deal terms are said to differ by creator, and there's no firm deadline. The move marks an uncommon shift from YouTube's traditional reliance on ad-revenue sharing rather than direct payouts.
The gambit is aimed squarely at Netflix, which has been scooping up creator content—from Ms. Rachel to Salish Matter—and pushing into video podcasts, sometimes requiring shows to pull their feeds from YouTube. One person familiar with YouTube's outreach said the company has also hinted that those who skip exclusivity could miss out on marketing boosts and brand opportunities. The talks signal a more aggressive fight over where top digital talent calls home and raise the prospect of a bidding war among streamers for creator-led shows.
Bloomberg notes this isn't the first time that YouTube has adopted such tactics to try to keep creators in its own silo: It once offered similar deals to creators who rebuffed the Vessel video-subscription service. The Next Web, meanwhile, makes an ominous observation: "There is a precedent for how this ends, and it is not from television. The music industry spent the 2000s discovering that exclusivity windows are expensive to buy, difficult to police, and resented by the audience, which is roughly the order in which those problems arrive."
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