YouTube is in talks to pay select creators millions of dollars if they keep their videos exclusively on YouTube for a set period. Two people familiar with the effort told Business Insider. This is a direct shot at Netflix, which has been licensing star creator videos and, in some podcast deals, pulling that content off YouTube.
Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw broke the outreach first. Business Insider then got more of the mechanics from people close to the talks. YouTube spent years acting like the ad-revenue split was plenty. Now it is writing extra checks. When a company that did not want to pay outside that model suddenly opens the wallet, the old system is not holding.
What YouTube put on the table
Talks are underway with a handful of creators. Deal terms vary by person. YouTube has not set a deadline to finish them. A second person who has spoken directly with YouTube said the conversations started in the past few weeks.
In one case, YouTube came in with a verbal offer “in the millions” in exchange for posting exclusively on YouTube for a certain period. Details were not locked. That is still a handshake stage, not a signed contract. But the number is the point. Creators have been waiting for someone to say show me the money. YouTube just did.
YouTube has rolled out new tools so creators can make more from ads and grow an audience. It has historically been reluctant to pay extra cash outside the usual ad-revenue split, though it has done it in particular moments before. Direct million-dollar retainers are a different animal. That is YouTube feeling heat from Netflix and other streamers, not a sudden burst of generosity.
How Netflix pushed into YouTube’s turf
Netflix has been stuffing its catalog with videos from superstar creators like Ms. Rachel and Salish Matter. Those videos have generally lived on both Netflix and YouTube. That dual listing is what YouTube now wants to stop, at least for a few names it cares about.
Netflix noticed two things regular folks already feel in the living room. Creators shape popular culture now. And YouTube’s share of TV watch time in the US keeps climbing. The biggest paid streamer cannot ignore that.
Netflix also made a major push this year into video podcasts, another lane YouTube has owned. It signed shows like “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and “The Breakfast Club.” In many of those deals, Netflix required the video versions to come off YouTube. That is not sharing. That is taking the show and locking the door.
Stay exclusive or lose the perks
The money is the carrot. There is a stick too. The person who spoke with YouTube said the company suggested that creators who skip an exclusivity deal could lose perks like marketing support and access to brand deals.
Read that again. YouTube is not only offering extra pay. It is hinting that the support system around a channel (the promo, the brand introductions) might dry up if you will not sign. That is leverage. For a working creator, brand deals are often the real income, not the ad split. Threatening that pipeline is how a platform reminds you who owns the road.
What this means if you just watch videos
Most people are not getting a million-dollar call. A handful of stars are. Everyone else still lives on the same ad split and the same algorithm. The gap between the top of the heap and a normal channel just got wider.
If a bidding war heats up, your watch list gets chopped up. A show you used to click on YouTube for free might sit behind a Netflix login. Or it stays on YouTube and disappears from the streamer you already pay. Either way, the viewer does more hunting and more subscribing. The platforms collect. You shuffle apps.
- Only a handful of creators are in these talks. Your average channel is not getting this check.
- Some Netflix podcast deals already required video to leave YouTube. Exclusivity is not theoretical.
- Creators who refuse YouTube’s offer were told they could lose marketing support and brand-deal access.
- YouTube had no deadline and at least one offer was still verbal. This can stall, change, or spread fast.
- Content that used to sit on both platforms may get locked to one. That is more fragmentation for viewers.
What normal folks should watch for
This is two giants fighting over the people who actually make the videos you watch. YouTube wants to stay the place where careers get built. Netflix wants those same faces inside a paid catalog, and it has already pulled some podcasts off YouTube to do it.
If you care about control, notice the pattern. The talent gets a check. The platform keeps the audience, the data, and the terms. Regular creators do not get a seat at that table. Regular viewers get another reason their favorite show moved and nobody asked them first.
The open question Business Insider left on the table is the right one. How hot does this market get, and do we end up in a bidding war for a small pile of names while everyone else keeps grinding on the old split? Watch who signs, watch what gets pulled off YouTube, and do not confuse a million-dollar retainer with a fairer system. It is YouTube paying to hold the fort.
What I Think You Should Watch
If you want to support some YouTube creators (despite the fact that you are supporting YT/Alphabet as well) I put together a list of the YouTubers that I watch frequently. This isn’t a complete list, but it is a good selection from a few categories.
You can see my whole list on this post:
YouTube is a Plague on the World of Google’s Creation – Here is what I watch on YouTube.
Primary Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-offering-financial-incentives-to-creators-stay-off-netflix-2026-8