Shortly after launching its subscription service YouTube Red, the video site is expressing plans to land streaming rights for popular TV shows and movies.
According to the Wall Street Journal, YouTube has been meeting with studios and production companies to get the ball rolling on content deals. Exclusive streaming deals would put the subscription service on par with competitors Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.
The launch of YouTube Red has made landing exclusive streaming deals a priority in order to promote the higher-end $9.99-a-month subscription service to users who are familiar with getting their YouTube content for free.
YouTube has been free and ad-supported since 2007, but offering premium and exclusive content offers a reason for subscribers to pay for the service. The video site also has plans to create original content, including 10 original movies and series, it said this fall. Production will start in 2016, starting with one of its most famous YouTubers, PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg). The original content will be exclusively available to YouTube Red subscribers.
YouTube’s plans are reportedly to focus on new material that can release in theaters or on VOD alongside YouTube simultaneously.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
Brief Take: For YouTube, the fan bases are there and ready for this type of exclusive content—the question is how much more will people pay for streaming content? And how many different apps and websites (Netflix, HBO GO, Amazon, Hulu, Crackle, et.c) are users willing to put up with?
[Image courtesy of YouTube]
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