14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube is working overtime on getting those revenue streams flowing and, if you take Google's word on it, it seems to be 'paying' off. But advertising alone is not going to make it profitable, at least not fast enough for the company, so Google is also looking at premium paid content as a potential revenue source. It's already working on releasing full-length movie rentals and now it looks like it may do the same for TV shows.
Media Memo cites several sources which say that the video giant has been in talks with several TV networks trying to convince them to release their content on the site. YouTube already hosts several shows which can be streamed for free with advertising, but the site is now looking to launch a full-blown rental service for recent releases. The shows would be available for streaming on the next day after their initial airing and would cost $1.99 a pop.
The talks are at an early stage, apparently, but the parties seem to be interested in a deal. YouTube may very well be successful in its endeavor as it brings a lot of things to the table. While Hulu has been seeing huge growth for the past couple of years and is now the second biggest video site in the US, YouTube is far, far ahead of it in terms of unique visitors so a show could get a lot more exposure on Google's site. And since these types of deals aren't something completely new at this point, though subscription models are still in their infancy, the TV networks and studios may not be so reluctant towards the idea.
The biggest hurdle for YouTube though may be the price and people's perceptions. Most users won't be inclined to pay $1.99 to stream a show knowing they can download the same content for the same price from the likes of Apple and Amazon. Google says that this isn't a real inconvenience and that those who download the shows still watch it only once, most of the times. More details should be coming in when a deal is closer to the final form.