YouTube to Add 100 Original Channels

SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube is to launch 100 new original channels, with partners such as FremantleMedia, Electus and Lionsgate on board.

FremantleMedia is to launch an original channel focused on pets and animals. Electus will roll out three, on pop culture, Latin culture and food. Lionsgate is presenting a fitness channel.

A host of celebrities have also pacted with YouTube, among them Madonna, Shaquille O’Neal, Amy Poehler, Ashton Kutcher, Rainn Wilson, Deepak Chopra and Sofia Vergara. Most are creating channels through their production companies. Madonna is a partner with the dance channel DanceOn, while O’Neal is planning the Comedy Shaq Network.

YouTube says the channels will add 25 hours of new original content daily. Most of the channels are expected to launch in 2012.

"Our goal with this channels expansion, along with the grants and educational programs we’ve launched in the past year, is to bring an even broader range of entertainment to YouTube, giving you more reasons to keep coming back again and again," Robert Kyncl, the global head of content partnerships at YouTube, said in a blog post. "And for advertisers, these channels will represent a new way to engage and reach their global consumers."