YouTube is building a system that would allow users to subscribe to streaming services through the YouTube app, The Wall Street Journal reported, and could launch the so-called “channel store” as early as this fall. The Journal’s report didn’t say which services might be part of the store, only that YouTube has been talking with various entertainment companies.
A Channel stores makes perfect sense for YouTube, and it’s been a long time in the works: The Information reported on a similar plan way back in early 2020. More recently, the company has been signaling this is coming: “I think whether content is distributed in a bundle, or where over time we explore other ways of distributing it, I think YouTube can be a great partner there,” YouTube VP of product management Christian Oestlien recently told The Verge. “We’ve never looked at the world as these binary choices between us and partner services… we think all of us can coexist in a really healthy way.” This is now maybe the single most popular idea in the streaming business. Tech companies, particularly those who have tried to make their own original content and seen how hard (and expensive!) it is to do so, are deciding they’re better off handling everything but the shows and movies. You already have an account with Verizon or AT&T, for instance, and a bill you pay them every month, so your carrier can pitch itself as a valuable marketing partner and infrastructure provider for subscriptions. It’s a lot like the old cable bundle, just… internet-ified. And the upside is the same for app store providers and game stores: a small cut of everything you buy.
Apple, Amazon, and a number of others all make this case, and often to great effect. HBO Max got 4.5 million subscribers through Amazon Channels, the Journal reported, and briefly bailed on that partnership but is now reportedly planning to come back. Even Walmart is reportedly thinking about getting in the game. YouTube may have the strongest case of any Channel stores partner, though. It has an enormous audience, upwards of two billion people a month, many of whom already have an account and a credit card saved to YouTube. They already have the app downloaded, they might even already be watching Peacock or HBO shows one clip at a time — it’s an easy upsell to get them subscribed to the service. (YouTube also has the best video player and app on the market, which doesn’t hurt its case to users.)
Source: This news is originally published by theverge