YouTube has long been pushing for more professional content, with a wide variety of tools: The site has given out free equipment to some of its producers, invited others to classes to learn more about video production and given sizable advances to select partners. There’s some dispute about the effectiveness of these measures, especially since YouTube chose not to renew more than 60 percent of its premium channels.
Of course, traditional TV networks cancel shows all the time — and YouTube increasingly seems to take its cues from the studios. Case in point: The video service opened a sizable production facility in Los Angeles earlier this year that’s open to YouTube producers to shoot their shows.