In 2018, Google split its YouTube Red subscription service into two separate offerings:YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
The YouTube Premium service offers ad-free video, offline viewing, background playback, all YouTube Music features, and access to YouTube Originals .
Like Netflix and Amazon, YouTube has started to create its own exclusive content. All of this content is available under the YouTube Originals name.
The shows and movies span a wide range of genres and a mix of well-known actors and famous YouTubers. All shows are available in any market where YouTube Premium is available and can be viewed on all your devices.
To help you start sorting the wheat from the chaff, here are the best YouTube originals you can watch right now.
Cobra Kai is perhaps the best known YouTube original. The story uses all four Karate Kid movies as inspiration.
Set 34 years after the first film, the 10-part series follows the reopening of the Cobra Kai karate dojo and the rekindling of the rivalry between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence.
Actors Ralph Macchio (LaRusso) and William Zabka (Lawrence) return to reprise their original roles.
A second season will be available in 2019..
Step Up:High Water is another YouTube Original that is heavily based on a movie franchise.
For those unaware, there were five Step Up movies released between 2006 and 2014. They fall into the dance drama genre.
The YouTube show tells the story of twins Tal (Petrice Jones) and Janelle (Lauryn McClain) as they are forced to move to Atlanta due to a family crisis. Once they arrive at their new home, they join a free performing arts school run by Sage Odom (Ne-Yo). It is described as the most ruthless school in the city.
You can expect a lot of music, a lot of comedy, and a lot of dark moments in all 10 episodes.
The main star of the series, Channing Tatum, serves as an executive producer on the YouTube show.
What do you get if you place a group of documentary filmmakers in a city with millions of stray cats? The answer is Kedi. It is the first film on our list..
Trace the lives of seven stray dogs in Istanbul. With a healthy dose of melancholic music and a voiceover that is sure to take your heart away, it's a must-watch for cat lovers.
Created by comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, this wacky comedy comedian was arguably the first YouTube Original to become popular with mainstream audiences.
When it launched in early 2017, demand for the show was greater than demand for several hit series from other streaming providers, including Orange, New Black, Santa Clarita Diet, The Grand Tour, and The Man In the High Castle. ..
The story follows the lives of Rhett and Link (playing themselves) as they try to regain control of their morning chat show with a mutual ex-girlfriend.
If you like Felix Kjellberg's style of content, you'll enjoy Scare PewDiePie. The series sees the YouTube star put on reality-based horror setups.
We review Scare PewDiePie, we watch Scare PewDiePie, so we don't have to who we watch, Scare PewDiePie. We saw the first batch so, well, you don't have to. Here's what we thought... Read More Our biggest complaint was the seemingly scripted reactions, but we still found it very enjoyable.
There is only one season of 10 episodes. The second season was canceled before its release in 2017 after YouTube decided that Kjellberg was too divisive a figure to promote in such a way. However, he is still the most popular YouTuber by number of subscribers..
Youth and Consquences ticks all the boxes for a high school teen drama.
There's the queen of the school fighting to maintain her status, the set of bullies who make rude comments about everything from sexuality to social class, the ongoing network of love interests, cliques, and every other high school stereotype you can imagine. ..
It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but after its release in March 2018, it quickly shot to the top of YouTube's most popular shows.
The first season contains eight episodes. There has been no official word on a second season.
The Keys of Christmas is the second YouTube Original Movie on the list. Offers a modern take on Charles Dickens' classic novel, A Christmas Carol.
The film features an all-star cast, with Mariah Carey, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Fifth Harmony, Rudy Mancuso, Melanie Iglesias, and Mike Tyson all playing major roles.
DJ Khaled and Mariah Carey are the do-gooders; YouTube star Mancuso is transported to a winter wonderland to teach him the true meaning of Christmas.
It's certainly not a classic movie, but it's a fun and welcome addition to the list of Christmas movies worth streaming. Top 10 Christmas Movies on Netflix to Watch This Year Top 10 Christmas Movies on Netflix to Watch This Year. the good things? Here are the best Christmas movies on Netflix to watch this holiday season. Read more.
Lifeline introduces us to the world of science fiction 10 of the Best Modern Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix 10 of the Best Modern Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Science fiction is a difficult genre to do well, which means there are plenty of of terrible science movies to avoid. But Netflix has a ton of great ones that you can't miss. Read more . The two main characters, Conner (Zach Gilford) and Haley (Amanda Crew) work for an insurance company that has the ability to travel through time.
Using their powers, Conner and Haley try to predict the death of their clients by traveling 33 days into the future. They then return to the present and try to stop the deaths from happening.
In some respects, the show feels like Black Mirror. Some of the subplots, such as the duo's slower aging process due to their time travel, are explored in more detail in later episodes.
The series runs for eight episodes. Unfortunately, YouTube has already confirmed that there will not be a second season.
Fans of Michael Stevens' Vsauce channel will be instantly familiar with the premise of Mind Field. The episodes use a documentary-style format, with Stevens discussing various aspects of human behavior.
Each episode contains an experiment that links to the theme of the video. Sometimes Stevens performs the experiment on himself. At other times, he uses guests or test subjects..
Experiments have included three days of solitary confinement to test the effect on the brain, making people angry and giving them things to break, and asking a group of people to answer a question incorrectly in front of an unwitting participant to test the power of conformity.
Single by 30 is a romantic comedy. Set in Los Angeles, the show begins with two high school students who make a pact to go to the senior dance together if they can't find a date.
After the dance, they make another pact:they will marry if they are both still single by the time they turn 30.
Predictably, they lose contact with each other. But as they approach their 30s, they reunite after the breakup of their long-term relationships. They choose to reinstate the old pact, and the series focuses on their feelings for each other as they re-enter the dating world.
All of these programs are only available to YouTube Premium subscribers. However, some people may not yet see the value in subscribing to another streaming service.
To help you decide, check out our coverage of whether YouTube Premium is worth it and what you should know about it. Is YouTube Premium worth the money? 7 things to consider Is YouTube Premium worth the money? 7 things to watch out for YouTube Premium is making headlines and buzz, but is the paid subscription service really worth it? We look at the facts to help you decide. Read more . (YouTube Music subscribers can upgrade to YouTube Premium for just $2 a month.)
