What you need to know
- YouTube has been reportedly working on an online store for streaming services.
- The "channel store" will presumably give consumers a single platform for purchasing streaming subscriptions.
- YouTube will supposedly launch the online streaming marketplace as soon as this fall.
YouTube already offers access to live TV, video-on-demand content, and cloud-based DVR from various TV networks through YouTube TV. Now, the company apparently wants to expand that business model to streaming services.
According to The Wall Street Journal, YouTube is developing an online marketplace that will provide a one-stop shop for users to subscribe to their favorite streaming services, a la Amazon Prime Video Channels or Apple TV. The platform, which is internally referred to as a "channel store," will supposedly launch this fall.
The Google-owned video sharing platform has been reportedly working on the project for at least 18 months. The report says YouTube "has renewed talks with entertainment companies about participating in the platform."
Android Central has reached out to YouTube for confirmation and will update this article when we receive a response.
While a number of streaming platforms, such as HBO Max, are already accessible through YouTube TV, this service is only available in the United States. The channel store will presumably enable YouTube to expand its streaming reach to more regions by baking an online store into its app.
The service will supposedly bank on its massive global reach to convince streaming platforms to ink a partnership with it. This will boost the marketing and visibility of content to more than 2 billion monthly YouTube users by making video trailers available to watch for free on YouTube. Users will then be able to subscribe to a streaming service they like without leaving the app.
Of course, streaming partners can expect to share their revenue with YouTube for subscriptions made through the platform. It's not yet clear how YouTube will split earnings with streaming services, but the terms are expected to be different for each platform.
For consumers, the channel store means there will only be a single destination to manage multiple streaming subscriptions. It remains to be seen, though, whether the content offered by the online store will be worth the subscription fee. Pricing will be a crucial factor that YouTube needs to consider as well.
