• by Ross Fadner , August 28, 2012

Google’s YouTube is getting ready to drop underperformers from its roster of 100+ professionally produced original content channels, according to a new report.

Google's ambitious plan to add dozens of new premium content channels on the video-sharing site was announced last February. Most of their creators have received some of the $100 million earmarked for the program, but sources tell The New York Post that Google is already looking to cut some of the less successful performers. 

“They’ll cull the herd and work with the best,” the source said, adding that underperformers will be cut by December 31. Meanwhile, YouTube management is already discussing plans for the next iteration of the program, the source said -- which will include a new round of funding for existing channels, in addition to choosing new channels to fund.

Over the last several months, YouTube has switched its emphasis to time spent with a given channel or series of videos, rather than the total number of views generated as the main criteria for judging success, as time spent is of greater value to potential advertisers than total views.

As one partner tells The Post: “If a channel has 20 million views, and viewers spend just 35 seconds on the channel, how valuable is that to an advertiser?”

The switch is bearing fruit too: since January, total hours watched on YouTube have jumped a whopping 33 percent, from 3 billion to 4 billion.