Channel stores are officially the hottest new thing in streaming – The Verge

YouTube is building a system that would allow users to subscribe to streaming services through the YouTube app, The Wall Street Journal reported, and could launch the so-called “channel store” as early as this fall. The Journal’s report didn’t say which services might be part of the store, only that YouTube has been talking with various entertainment companies. A channel store makes perfect sense for YouTube, and it’s been a long time in the works: The Information reported on a similar plan way back in early 2020. More recently, the company has been signaling this is coming: “I think whether content is distributed in a bundle, or where over time we explore other ways of distributing it, I think YouTube can be a great partner there,” YouTube VP of product management Christian Oestlien recently told The Verge. “We’ve never looked at the world as these binary choices between us and partner services… we think all of us can coexist in a really healthy way.” This is now maybe the single most popular idea in the streaming business. Tech companies, particularly those who have tried to make their own original content and seen how hard (and expensive!) it is to do…
Read More