Technology | YouTube 60% of YouTube Channels May Lose Funding Google readies overhaul based on viewership By Matt Cantor Posted Nov 12, 2012 12:46 PM CST Copied Tara Levy, Global Marketing Director, Ads, for Google and YouTube, gives a presentation at Advertising Week on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Advertising Week/AP Images) YouTube channels are facing a reckoning: As it seeks to make the site more television-like, Google is launching a second round of investments in YouTube channels—but only 30% to 40% are likely to get a new installment of cash, an exec tells Advertising Age. At the moment, YouTube has 160 channels. But a year after beginning the funding process, the site now has a clearer sense of which ones are on the road to success. The new funding will be based on viewership hours, as opposed to number of views or how much cash a channel is generating, Fast Company notes. "Our biggest objective was to kick-start the ecosystem, to bring in great creators, to deepen our relationships with advertisers and to grow viewership," says content exec Jamie Byrne, who's helming the process. If channels don't get funding, it's not the end: They can stick around, and YouTube bosses are hoping content makers will keep at it, AllThingsD reports. Channels that do get funding are looking at similar figures to those in the first round of investment: between $1 million and $5 million. It's a tough gig for the channel's producers, notes Ad Age: Before they start selling their own ads, they have to pay back YouTube's investment. Read These Next New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. Iran's supreme leader makes first public comments since ceasefire. Her blood isn't compatible with anyone else's. Man accused of killing his daughters might be dead. Report an error