It wasn’t enough that Alphabet’s YouTube created the “clip” culture, welcoming 1 billion monthly users to view short-form videos on everything from stupid animal tricks to classic rock performances.
Beginning Feb. 10, its subscription version, YouTube Red, will try to do the same thing for proprietary, long form content – commercial-free feature films and television shows. And it just may give Amazon and Netflix, the business’ pioneers, a run for their money.
Alphabet launched YouTube Red in October, betting that many of its users would pay a comparatively modest $9.99 a month for the pleasure of consuming commercial-free content on any number of devices, from Android and Apple TV to Roku and many gaming consoles.
As an added bonus, Red subscribers also get free access to the new YouTube Music app, which filters out non-musical results from video searches, and Google Play Music, a streaming music service.
The new service signaled a significant shift for YouTube from a tech platform enabling a rich community of content creators to one that will gain prominence as a media brand. It’s leveraging its relationships with its most followed contributors (assisted by the revenues Red brings in) to drive the move into the proprietary content space.
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As BTIG media and tech analyst Richard Greenfield told Wired, Red is looking at a healthy business, even if only 1 or 2 percent of YouTube’s users subscribe. Putting a portion of those revenues into original programming is smart for supporting the shift, especially since it’s already got its own stable of stars.
Like? Well, start with “Scare PewDiePie,” a reality adventure series from the creator and executive producers of “The Walking Dead.” Comedian/video game reviewer PewDiePie has nearly 42 million YouTube subscribers. The trailer for the series grabbed nearly 2 million views within 24 hours of going live.
Then there’s vlogger and comedian Lilly Singh with “A Trip to Unicorn Island,” a documentary about her world tour and life. And “Lazer Team,” from the production studio Rooster Teeth, is a feature film about four losers who become super heroes and save the world.
None of these, of course, are “House of Cards” or “Transparent” or, for that matter, “Grace and Frankie,” but they also appeal to a different demographic – largely millennials familiar with and fond of the quirk factor. And with the massive audiences Red’s creators have already built on YouTube, that may be enough.
