By now you might have heard that YouTube is looking to enter the TV streaming service. The company is looking to create something known as the “Channel Store” in which users will be offered packages to various streaming services. The company has already offered a subscription to YouTube TV which provides cable channels and a subscription to HBO Max.

YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the internet receiving roughly two billion monthly users so many are beginning to question why YouTube would be seeking to shift its business plan.

YouTube was established as a platform designed to give a voice to common people through the sharing of home videos. While this is an honorable goal in recent years it has been one to receive high amounts of criticism. Absolute free speech comes with the potential for problematic content. YouTube has been struggling to maintain the site's integrity while ensuring that available content is factual and relatively harmless. This impossible balance is proving to be more of a problem for YouTube as the company is either criticized for being irresponsible by allowing specific content on the site but as soon as that content is removed the company is criticized for censorship.

An example of this is YouTube’s decision to remove Alex Jones from the platform in 2018 for spreading conspiracy theories. To make matters more complicated for the company, in order to keep YouTube content free the company relies on ad revenue, however, ad revenue is slipping with the company gaining around $4 per user last quarter.

Streaming has become the number one method for Americans to consume TV media and may just be the solution to YouTube’s problems.

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‍Source: Reuters