There are several extremely lucrative tech-based ventures across the globe right now: e-commerce (provided you do it right by diversifying product portfolios and ensuring those products reach the customer in a timely manner); payments/financial services provided you have significant signups; and video-on-demand (VOD) services, provided the organization behind them entered the market earlier enough to command substantial numbers. The list is actually very long but you get the picture.
YouTube has for some time been trying to venture into the VOD services owing to its insane popularity. But this has not been the case because the business model surrounding streaming services is not what executives at the video-sharing, Google-owned platform are particularly good at. YouTube’s delayed entry into the service has also been curtailed by the popularity of the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu that command millions of subscribers who have invested in them so much to leave for the competition.
A couple of months ago, it was revealed that YouTube had devised plans to launch a high-end drama and comedies for people willing to commit to a subscription model. The plans have since been abandoned as of today.
YouTube’s audience is unquestionably vast, and this may have convinced the platform that it can use those numbers to make a cut from Hollywood. Credible rumours have it that YouTube axed a program geared towards examining pitches of scripted shows and comedies. Apparently, YouTube also had a plan in the pipeline to air a sci-fi film, Origin, but that will no longer be the case. The development is also said to have been sidelined by the unwillingness to commit billions of dollars of investments needed to remotely compete with Netflix and Prime Video.
Until new developments are announced, the platform will continue offering free, ad-supported content alongside paid services such as YouTube Music, YouTube Premium and YouTube TV.
