YouTube Building A One-Stop Streaming Video Store

YouTube continues to expand out if its core free video offering. After adding YouTube TV in 2017, a cable-like service with more than 100 broadcast and cable channels for $65/month ($55 month for the first three months) and gaining 5 million subscribers, it is now planning to launch an online store for streaming video services.

The service has reportedly been in the works for 18 months but the company is still in the process of negotiating terms with content providers. YouTube, owned by AlphabetGOOGL
Inc./GoogleGOOG
, is trying to solve the age-old problem for consumers of having multiple passwords for multiple subscription services.

Verizon launched a similar platform called Plus Play which allows customers to manage all of their streaming subscriptions through their app. Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Roku also allow you to sign on to outside subscriptions with ease. Jeffrey Hirsch, president and CEO of Starz, said that having a simple interface causes less people to drop the service, or what media companies call “churn.”

YouTube is said to be pitching the YouTube channel store as a marketing opportunity for streaming services because consumers watching movie trailers on YouTube can then be directed to the channel store and encouraged to subscribe.

YouTube seems to be a good partner for new streaming services like NBC’s Peacock and ViacomCBS’ ParamountPARA
+, as they get more than 2 billion hits for month, and many of those already have an account and a credit card saved on YouTube.

However, one challenge for the service is their desire to go global. Most domestic cable networks only buy U.S. rights and the content owner can then sell the remaining rights around the world. Therefore, for some content companies to be able to participate, they may have to go through and create a new streaming service which airs only content which they have worldwide rights to.

This can be a tedious process. While some major media companies have sophisticated film and TV rights databases by market, Other companies that are only focused on the U.S. market don’t actively track this information.

Paramount+ recently signed a deal with WalmartWMT
to be added to the retailer’s online video service called Walmart+, although it is not clear if it is exclusive.