YouTube, modern-day babysitter, and place where people watch other people play video games, has something completely new in the works. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Google’s platform is about to launch another platform. This one will act as an online store for streaming services, more or less.
More specifically, the new function is internally referred to as a “channel store”, according to the report. Exactly how it’ll work hasn’t been explained, but YouTube has apparently been working on the idea for eighteen months.
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The company hopes to convince potential partners to offer streaming services on the platform. Basically, viewers could see trailers or free content on YouTube, decide they like what they see, and subscribe to a given service directly via the YouTube app. Imagine watching Prime Video, Crunchyroll, or Netflix without ever closing YouTube. It’s like Vodacom’s super-app, but for streaming.
Google’s video service already does something like this. American subscribers can already elect to add additional services like HBO Max for an extra payment. It’s convenient, more than anything else, but it would also keep eyeballs on YouTube and potentially boost streaming audiences for partner services. That’s got to be an attractive draw. Netflix, in particular, has been pushing to expand flagging audience numbers of late.
YouTube is apparently working out how to split revenues with partner services. A launch of the as yet unnamed platform could take place as soon as the next month or two. A fall (September) release is the soonest we might see Google try and get a slice of that streaming pie.
Source: Wall Street Journal