Google?s YouTube moves to take on Netflix

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is moving to enter the more traditional, longer-form online video marketplace. The short-form video website recently launched YouTube Red, a video subscription service, and is in development talks with television and movie studios. In offering more online video content, especially if that content is exclusive to YouTube’s service, YouTube will become a clear competitor of video streaming providers like Netflix and Hulu.

In 2014, YouTube hired the former programing chief of MTV and the former content executive of Netflix. The Wall Street Journalreports that YouTube executives are meeting with “Hollywood studios and other production companies to consider pitches and negotiate licenses for new content.”

Experts say that if YouTube wants to compete in the current market, it will have to provide premium content – and that costs money, which Google has a lot of. According to one market analyst, Netflix is expected to increase spending on content by 18 percent to $3.3 billion while Hulu is expected to double its current spending on content to $1.5 billion.

YouTube may be behind Netflix and Hulu, but it isn’t the only company joining the online video marketplace. Comcast recently launched its “Watchable” streaming video service and Verizon is developing a similar product, “Go90.”

YouTube Seeks Streaming Rights to TV Shows, Movies (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2, 2015)

Is YouTube Red A Real Threat To Netflix? (Forbes, Dec. 4, 2015)