There are already so many streaming services available that some are already starting to shut down or merge, just because the market is saturated; We saw a good example of this recently, with the unification of HBO Max with Discovery+.
[Cosas nuevas en YouTube: ahora puedes repetir partes de un vídeo y la interfaz ha cambiado]
After the initial success, it’s already clear that the average user doesn’t want to switch between countless services to see what they want; and that translates into lost users, even for industry giants like Netflix. But what if we could see everything we want on one platform, would that be better?
YouTube wants to be the center of your subscriptions
According to the latest leak published by The Wall Street Journal, which is exactly what YouTube intends to become the platform that would host all streaming services. It sounds ambitious and a little complicated to understand, but basically it means we could see content from services like Netflix within YouTube.
According to the leak, Google is working on a “chain store”, which will allow us to buy new “channels” to access them directly from YouTube. These would be individual subscriptions, billed through Google to access more content not normally available on YouTube.
The big benefit for services would be the ability to attract more customers. With more than 2,000 million monthly active users, YouTube is a great showcase for promoting content, and you’ve probably discovered a series or a movie thanks to a YouTube recommendation. Now imagine YouTube letting you watch it, offering a subscription to the service that has it. For the user, this can simplify things a lot, having all the content in a single application or page.
In fact, this is not a new concept. Amazon already has something similar with the Prime Video channels, which arrived in Europe last year and offer access to channels like Mubi and MGM. But Amazon is struggling to win over big retailers, perhaps because it’s a direct competitor with its own service, Prime Video.
Instead, YouTube is no longer a rival to streaming services, having abandoned YouTube Originals, its own content service that produced series accessible only with YouTube Premium. In fact, the leak says that YouTube has been negotiating with various production companies for 18 months, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Originals shutdown had something to do with it.
There are still details to be finalized, such as the services available, but initially the launch of this store would take place this fall.
