After reading the New Yorker piece on YouTube's plans for channelization (is that a word? Sure), I was worried about the big leg up that all the big boys were getting in the "YouTube Original Channels." YouTube started acting as a producer and a promoter for 100 or so companies, and it seemed like the dreary end of the Internet—that GoogleTube's ambitions were, essentially, "to bridge Silicon Valley and Hollywood." Just what we needed: low-end NBC sitcoms on YouTube. (And a skateboard channel from Tony Hawk! And four channels from HuffPo/Buzzfeed's Ken Lerer and pals.) So here's a slightly misguided and delightfully premature look at how some YouTube Originals are doing. (I say "misguided" because they are putting so much emphasis on how many "subscribers" each channel is amassing. But that's not really a great way to look at YouTube. "Number of embeds," coupled with views, would actually be a much better metric. And I say premature because, like, a lot of them haven't launched? For instance "American Hipster" (oh boy!!) starts March 26th.) Anyhoo! The most interesting ones (Vice, The Bowery Presents) are sorta performing fine—but they're in league with Tony Hawk and some of the offerings of content farm eHow—though things like eHow Food is crushing it. (And so is Madonna's dance party channel—but they've also loaded that mother up with tons of content.) So there's some predictable news there—but at least it seems, still, like anyone can compete.