The shows or movies could also be also released through traditional channels like movie theaters, cable networks and DVDs alongside YouTube Red, the person added.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, YouTube is looking to acquire the rights to a range of TV series and movies, which would carry it firmly into competition with Netflix and Amazon – as if it wasn’t already.
YouTube, which remains the world’s largest online video service in terms of viewers according to the WSJ, is believed to be focusing on licensing.
The US paper says that YouTube executives have met with Hollywood studios and production companies in the last few months to secure deals for new content. It’s a similar idea to Netflix and Amazon Originals.
YouTube launched its new subscription video service, YouTube Red, towards the end of October. Presumably, that means current TV shoes and movies, the kind of stuff that’s under license, and therefore not available on YouTube for free.
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YouTube Red serves all of YouTube’s videos without ads, and it lets members save videos to watch offline on their phone or tablet as well as play videos in the background. Susanne Daniels, the former programming chief of MTV who joined YouTube in the summer, and Kelly Merryman, a former Netflix content executive who joined YouTube in late 2014, are involved, one of the people said. But YouTube’s already shaken that model up with Red, and with premium-only original content already on the way for next year, it’s no big leap to assume YouTube might want to integrate streaming as well. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu have all had varying levels of success in developing their own original content.
