YouTube is evolving. It wants to be more than an online portal for user generated videos. That is why it introduced YouTube Red, a $9.99 subscription service that lets you watch videos that you see on YouTube without the ads. They even bundle it with YouTube Music so that you can keep up with the music you love.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, it seems now they want to be like Netflix where you should expect to see them offer TV shows and movies included in the YouTube Red. Apparently, YouTube execs met with Hollywood studios in a bid to secure the rights to stream their shows. The shows are to be seen either exclusively on the “premium” YouTube Red offering or through the usual traditional channels like cable networks and movie theatres in tandem with the subscription service.
Mark Terbeek, a partner at a VC firm told the WSJ “YouTube is dominant in ad-supported online video, but they have missed the subscriptions side.” This is true since we are now in the streaming age where broadband internet is common rather than seldom and this has made it easy for people to stream content like music and TV shows.
If YouTube joins the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, it will mean that it will take the competition on online streaming video industry to greater heights. In addition to the already awesome content some YouTubers create, YouTube Red will become an enticing subscription service for people to sign up for.
