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YouTube Red is Having an Identity Crisis (digiday.com)

Posted by msmash on from the uncertain-future dept.

During an onstage conversation at Recode's Code Media this week, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki called YouTube Red a music streaming service -- first time any executive from the company has referred to YouTube Red as foremost a music service. From a report: This differs from comments that other YouTube executives have made in the past, including YouTube's head of global content Susanne Daniels, who last year described YouTube Red as a premium subscription streaming service that offers Hollywood-quality shows and movies.

Launched in October 2015, YouTube Red has always been positioned by YouTube as three services in one: It offers ad-free access to all of YouTube; it's a music streaming service that also gives access to Google Play Music; and it's consistently releasing original movies and TV shows, starring Hollywood talent and homegrown stars that users already subscribe to. Two years later, this has created somewhat of an identity crisis for the streaming service. As Wojcicki said in her interview, she sees YouTube Red as a music service. And she does not expect to spend billions of dollars on content to effectively compete with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and others.

42 comments

  1. Red is a Music Service? Nope. by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Insightful

    YouTube Red is an ad removal service. You can watch YouTube, or you can pay and watch YouTube without the ads.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    1. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      One of YouTube Red's big features on mobile is the ability to play videos in the background, or with the screen off. That's aimed mostly at music listeners. YouTube could provide that basic functionality without a paid subscription, but that's YouTube's clever way of holding music listeners over a barrel without having to admit to record companies what's actually going on.

      A lot of copyrighted music unavailable on typical music streaming services slips through the cracks on YouTube. Basically it seems like unless you're willing to pay a lawyer to hound YouTube, if you're popular your recordings will be made available for free on the service one way or another. And that's why people pay for Red even though it's a very inefficient as an audio program.

    2. Re: Red is a Music Service? Nope. by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Also, videos are on YouTube legitimately that aren't on all the streaming services.

      Videos are seen as promotion, and music streaming as a revenue source.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    3. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      Maybe they call it a music service because that's what people who have YouTube Red (or even just YouTube in general) are actually using it for. If you look at some of the play counts for popular songs on YouTube some are in the hundreds of millions. I think this has more to do with people just wanting to hear certain songs on demand rather than watching the actual videos though, and I suspect that's probably due to many streaming services not allowing that behavior in the free tiers which is what drove people to Google instead.

      I think it just shows how much people just want to be able to pick arbitrary songs to listen to such that they're willing to waste bandwidth on a video that they don't even see because it's hidden away in a different tab. YouTube could probably significantly cut bandwidth costs if they could detect this and only send audio in those cases. YouTube gets used only because nothing else has all the music (and by this I mean a lot of niche stuff) and the ability to arbitrarily play it.

      I don't really know why YouTube Red is necessary though since you get all of that without a subscription. Though to be fair I don't really get streaming services in general. Personally I just prefer to buy albums that I like and keep music on my phone. All of the big stores are DRM free and often times you can find good albums on sale for $5.

    4. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's an ad removal service for the YouTube app. On a PC, everyone has ad blockers.

    5. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I thought it was a Porn service? ahh, right, that's RedTube my mistake...

    6. Re: Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have red and no I rarely use it for music. Maybe I am exception? Others I have met dont really use it for.music either. Red subscribers or not.

    7. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it just shows how much people just want to be able to pick arbitrary songs to listen to such that they're willing to waste bandwidth on a video that they don't even see because it's hidden away in a different tab.

      People can even pick the songs ahead of time by creating a playlist; there are plenty out there especially for music videos or song lyrics. This can explain why the person defined it as such, but hey it's got something for everyone e.g. music videos, lolcats, HOWTOs for DIY projects or car repairs, movie clips or trailers, and so on.

    8. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Right, and it is as if a coffee shop said, "Well, we're mostly a donut shop" and somebody said, "oh noes! identity crisis!" or if a donut shop said, "We're mostly a coffee shop," and somebody said, "Oh noes! Identity crisis!"

      Of course, slashdot editors don't care that "identity crisis" doesn't mean, "admitted to being more than one thing," and it also doesn't mean, "said 5 words that were different than last years talking points."

      The key feature of an identity crisis, without which you can't possibly be having an identity crisis, is that you're having a crisis of some sort. Some random schmuck on the internet noticing you used different words today than you did two years ago? Not a crisis.

    9. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by ncc74656 · · Score: 1

      ...or you can run an ad blocker, use HookTube, or use the Kodi YouTube add-on.

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
    10. Re: Red is a Music Service? Nope. by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      What can you get with Red that you can't get without it, other than a lack of ads though? YouTube is actually pretty good in that regard as you can skip adds after a few seconds and they typically only run their required ad prior to the start of the video. If there are dozens of ads, it's probably due to the person who made the video inserting them, which is on them, not YouTube.

      Add in that a lot of popular video makers are moving away from YouTube's ads (either because of shit pay or because they've been demonetized for whatever reason) and just advertise something as part of the beginning of their video (as in "Today's video brought to you by Megacorp Inc." and maybe a specific product plug related to the video subject like a new motherboard in a tech video) instead of relying on ads built in to YouTube and Red becomes even more pointless since you get that regardless of whether you have Red or not.

    11. Re: Red is a Music Service? Nope. by thomst · · Score: 1

      alvinrod asked the musical question:>/p>

      What can you get with Red that you can't get without it, other than a lack of ads though?

      As noted in TFS, there are original movies and TV-style series that are only available to YouTube Red subscribers. (The rest of us have to pirate them.) Youtube has also recently moved a bunch of content from network TV providers behind their paywall.

      So, that's what ...

      --
      Check out my novel.
    12. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also download for offline play.

    13. Re: Red is a Music Service? Nope. by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      But what content that anyone actually cares about is behind the paywall?

      Or, more accurately, what content that isn't available from a dozen other channels? When Vsauce went Red, it was no big loss, there are plenty of science themed channels. (Yeah I know Vsauce only put some content on Red, but the free videos are so rare he might as well not exist now.)

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    14. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Bradmont · · Score: 1

      Alternatively, you can download NewPipe from F-Droid : https://f-droid.org/en/package...

    15. Re: Red is a Music Service? Nope. by thomst · · Score: 1

      nitehawk214 demanded:

      But what content that anyone actually cares about is behind the paywall?

      Or, more accurately, what content that isn't available from a dozen other channels?

      That, sir, is an entirely different question ...

      --
      Check out my novel.
    16. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      Several channels I used to watch have moved exclusively to YouTube Red. There's no option to see the content with ads.

    17. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of YouTube Red's big features on mobile is the ability to play videos in the background, or with the screen off. That's aimed mostly at music listeners. YouTube could provide that basic functionality without a paid subscription, but that's YouTube's clever way of holding music listeners over a barrel without having to admit to record companies what's actually going on.

      When you find a YouTube video you want to play while your screen is off, copy the youtube movie url and replace "you" with "hook". Load the url. You're welcome.

    18. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      I certainly use it for streaming music while I work. But I also watch a bunch of sciency, mathy and engineery channels that interest me. Since YT accounts for 90+% of the video and audio I watch and stream it was worth it to me to pay. The price is a heck of a lot less than other streaming services, works on a desktop and laptop which is what I have in front of me most of the time and there is indeed much foreign niche music content that in the US is only available to me on YouTube even though it's widely popular and available abroad.

      The failing is mostly on alternative music sources that fail at being less crap than YouTube and succeed at being more expensive.

      Also I can download the YouTube music as MP3s with a little command line magic. This works well when I'm traveling.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    19. Re:Red is a Music Service? Nope. by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      Crisis? You must enjoy drama.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  2. Maybe for Canada REAL SOON NOW? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The lack of Youtube Red in Canada drives me nuts. Like many many other American companies, Google seems to snub Canada. It doesn't bode well for the U.S. economy when it's big players can't figure out how to do business internationally.

    1. Re: Maybe for Canada REAL SOON NOW? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm Canadian too (although I lived half my life in the USA and still have more family in the US than Canada), but in many respects Canada is often viewed as not worth the trouble. The population of Canada is roughly equivalent to only California.

      The real problem with expanding to the Canadian market for an online media service company is the annoying legal issues. "Can we just serve this media library in Canada?" "Ah no because the Canadian division of X Corporation doesn't have a licensing agreement with its parent company in Los Angeles" etc. There are thousands of little glitches like that and you would need corporate lawyers that know both systems very well.

      Also, after Target rapidly expanded into Canada a few years back and then extravagantly went bankrupt and fled, large American companies took note.

      I think at this point it would just be more simple for media companies to be more open to VPN users (or even actually provide ones). Canadians are already allowed to freely own property in the USA, rent mailboxes that act as if they are American, and open American credit cards and bank accounts. At this point f- it, just let them use VPNs and pay money to USA Netflix, Satellite TV, streaming services, etc. A lot (millions) of Canadians work hard all year and then vacation to the USA and spend a lot of money. It's good for the American economy to take money from Canucks. The fact that Hollywood is so restrictive is silly.

    2. Re:Maybe for Canada REAL SOON NOW? by LoneTech · · Score: 1

      This is the answer. YouTube Red is not a service at all, it is a taunt; "not available in your country". The YouTube app instructions literally tell us to use options that are not on offer and we have to search to find out it's for no reason.

  3. The only reason by H3lldr0p · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have YT:Red is because I subscribe to google music streaming. That's it. I wouldn't pay for it otherwise. I also suspect that this is the case for the vast majority of people who have the service.

    Which means, yes, YT:Red is indeed a music service.

    1. Re:The only reason by jmhysong · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I sub for Google Play Music, mostly for listening in my car. The removal of ads on Youtube is nice but those Youtube Originals are garbage. I really can't stand watching most Youtube personalities and would never pay to do so.

    2. Re:The only reason by Oliver+Wendell+Jones · · Score: 2

      From my perspective, I pay for YouTube Red and get Google Play Music as a free bonus. I watch a LOT of YouTube videos on my TV and not having to sit through the same boring commercials every time I start a new video was worth the $9.95/mo. Then I bought a Google Home device last year and got 6 months for free of both - it finally ran out and I'm back to having to pay for it. It is worth it, in my opinion. I don't stream that much music, so I wouldn't pay for just a music streaming service...

      --
      A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
    3. Re:The only reason by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      From my perspective, I pay for YouTube Red and get Google Play Music as a free bonus.

      Same for me, in reverse. I listen to a lot of music on various platforms and Google Play is worth it at 9.95/mo. When I found out I got YouTube Red for free, it just made it that much better. And it started with the free trial (I forget if it was 3 or 6 months) I got when I got a Nexus phone and Project Fi.

      The only thing I have to remember is that not everyone has YouTube Red. I write a music blog and the easiest way to post music is by posting a YouTube video. I try to remind myself that most of my readers will have to sit through an advertisement.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:The only reason by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Solution: let them split the services: YT Red for music, YT Blue for original content, and YT Clear for no ads and offline viewing (included in the other subscriptions). And offer it overseas already!

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  4. YouTube is already an amazing free DJ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they have smart ads and just a good service Iâ(TM)d prob pay $5 per month or so which on scale could change the paradigm of some content.

  5. YouTube Red? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YouTube Red? I use YT quite a lot, but never knew there was a paid, ad-free version. Ah yes, Google's marketing strikes again.

  6. RedTube? by scorp1us · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not seeing how naming YouTube Red was at all a good idea given it's domain neighbors.

    --
    Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
    1. Re:RedTube? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty much. Whenever I see "YouTube Red" I always think RedTube first and then the context typically wont make sense. First then do I realize that it is actually a YouTube service.

  7. $120/yr app to enable background payback by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The YouTube app userbase has asked for years for background playback, and there were even Xposed modules to enable that, but then Google decided that they could get $120/yr for this feature by bundling it with other stuff nobody seemed to want. It might just be the most expensive 'pro' upgrade in the App Store.

    Imagine the total worldwide energy savings from everybody who doesn't have it not leaving their screens on just to listen to YouTube. Google may say they're green with solar panels and carbon credit swapping, but where the rubber meets the road they don't put their money where their PR is.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  8. Well the web page says it so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look here : https://support.google.com/you... What does it says at the top ? "youtube music" and in the middle "youtube red". They are using those interchangeably.

    Anyway for me the funniest were all those show going away from youtube and going onto youtube red. They went from world widecpm , to getting a slice from potentiel subber from those few countries : Australia; Korea; Mexico; New Zealand; The United States
    Thereby cutting of the whole europe market. It is only my gut feeling but I have my doubt the model is going to finance well the show which went there exclusive.

  9. Who pays for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PORN anymore...Oh wait!

  10. YouTube Red will never go anywhere until... by Kid+CUDA · · Score: 0

    .. YouTube Red is a pipe dream. Obviously it will fail if they keep limiting it to a handful of countries. I would be willing to pay for YouTube Red, if it were available in my country. What's so hard about accepting payments in other currencies?

  11. Free Youtube Red by locopuyo · · Score: 1

    Why would anyone pay for it when you can get any Youtube Red video for free by replacing the "you" with "red" in the url?

    --
    The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
  12. Good way to lose subscriptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I've have YouTube ted since I bought my Nexus 6P in 2016. I very rarely listen to the music either through Google music or YouTube red. I primarily have it because I hate YouTube ads which I primarily watch through my 65 inch LG tv. There existing content is so shit i don't watch it. I primarily use it to watch various documentaties and how to videos, the only thing YouTube is actually good for.

  13. YouTube Red... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has always sounded like a DIY porn service.

  14. New Zealand has a sheep sex site... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...called EweTube...