YouTube Now A Little Bit Country With New Curated Channel

YouTube‘s attempt to curate premium channels has been mostly limited to its ever-expanding line of Original Channels, but a new endeavor shows off its willingness to help create channels one at a time. YouTube and entertainment firm Greenlight Media & Marketing have teamed up to create Country Now, a new YouTube channel dedicated to America’s twangiest musical genre.

Country Now is not included within the Original Channels Initiative, but it has the look and feel of that project’s typical offering. A weekly schedule is already in place, with news programs, talk shows, animated cartoons and interviews already fired up and ready to go. The channel’s premium origins have allowed it to feature some of the genre’s biggest stars; one of the initial’s programs features country legend Tim McGraw.

Country Now fills a YouTube gap; there aren’t any large hubs for country music fans outside of artist VEVO accounts. “They’re really underserved,” Greenlight President Dominic Sandifer said of country music fans. “There isn’t one channel where they are getting their country music. We felt like that was really a huge, untapped opportunity here.”

The Original Channels Initiative was launched as a way to bring content with niche appeal to a YouTube audience. Most of its offerings are highlighted by a highly specific focus featuring plenty of insider analysis. Country Now exemplifies YouTube’s ability to create that experience outside of the Original Channels framework. It’s a trendsetter as much as it should be an instant subscription for thousands of good ol’-fashioned American patriots across the nation.