Google’s popular video sharing website YouTube will soon be overhauled and turned into a premium content competitor with organised channels and professionally produced video.
YouTube is trying to position itself to better handle the age of Internet-connected televisions, a report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
It is reorganising its home page around “channels’’ or topics such as sports and arts. The website is working to include about 20 “premium channels” that would showcase five to 10 hours of professionally produced, original programming each week.
The changes, which reportedly will cost YouTube about $100 million, should start to be phased in by the end of the year. YouTube is looking to align itself with the growing trend of Internet-connected television.
The website designers are working to develop channels that would make it easier for users — who would be viewing the site on their computers and on their TVs — to find the content that they want to watch.
Analysts say that this is the time when You Tube needs to make changes as not much has changed since it started.
The report says that YouTube will now will have categorised channels (“such as arts and sports”), and that premium-grade content is on its way. These changes are slated to roll in by the end of the year, and Google is looking for new recruits to work on the project.