YouTube is bringing streaming service content into YouTube TV—wait, no…the main app?!
In a blog post, the company has announced Primetime Channels, a new feature that brings content from streaming services you are subscribed to into the main YouTube app. The company says that, at launch, the feature will include content from SHOWTIME®, STARZ, Paramount+, and more:
With Primetime Channels, you will be able to sign up, browse and watch your favorite TV shows, movies and sports from streaming services such as SHOWTIME®, STARZ, Paramount+, AMC+, ViX+ and more, all directly on YouTube!
Primetime Channels will start with availability in the United States and offer content from thirty streaming services. Jeff Shultz, Chief Strategy Officer and Business Development Officer of Paramount Streaming, said that the streaming service was “excited to expand our partnership with YouTube.”
“We are excited to expand our partnership with YouTube to offer customers of Paramount+ another way to stream the content they love. This new feature gives us the opportunity to expand our presence on YouTube, broadening our reach and giving consumers even more choice when it comes to streaming the best in entertainment.”
Jeff Shultz
If you use Primetime Channels, content from those streaming platforms will live side by side with videos from creators on YouTube.
Google TV already offers a similar experience that attempts to bring all of the things you subscribe to, whether it be a YouTube channel or streaming service, into one user experience that shows you content from everywhere. However, Google TV isn’t available in nearly as many places as YouTube itself which is pretty much available everywhere.
With this move, Google seems to be looking to make YouTube into the aggregator for all of your video content. We’ll have to wait and see if people like seeing new Mr. Beast videos alongside new episodes of Halo.
The move comes shortly after the company brought a redesign to the app and hiked the price of YouTube Premium.
