Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has seen the success of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) in providing quality original content, and the company is leveraging one of its greatest assets, Youtube, in order to take part of that market for itself. In a blog post yesterday, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced that it was launching paid subscriber only Youtube channels.
According to a Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) report on the Google move, there is no telling at this stage whether or not Google will make an impact on the streaming market with its introduction of the service. What the move does show, however, is the ambitious and integrated plan that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) executives have for the company’s future.
Youtube premium channels will be offered to paying customers for as little as 99 cents per month. That number is cheaper than a Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) subscription, but it doesn’t unlock as much content for years. The pilot program also contains few big names, though that might change as the program grows.
The names associated with the paid Youtube pilot program include Jim Henson Company, National Geographic, the PGA, UFC and Sesame Street. Users will be allowed to take advantage of a two week trial period for free, after which they will have to pay the listed subscription for access to the content.
This program, at least for the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) analysts, is not about hitting Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), or at least not quite yet. It represents something much more important for Google, the integration of the company’s entire empire into a single, and near omnipotent product.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has begun to roll out Google Fiber, the company’s internet service provider planned for three US cities, Kansas, Austin, and Provo. To Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), Fiber could be the culmination of several Google strategies.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) could offer its streaming content, and many other paid services it has in the pipeline, or already offers, to customers at no charge if they sign up to Fiber. That would increase demand for the service, speed its rollout, and give the company something to challenge Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Netflix, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), etc. ad nauseum.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is led by some incredibly talented executives. They could challenge the entire web industry in one slow blow. Regulators might be the company’s only problem.
