• Primetime Channels will let users subscribe to, sign up for and access streaming services via YouTube.
• Users will need to pay a subscription to access Primetime Channel content.
• Primetime Channel content will appear in recommendations and search results but won’t receive preferential treatment.

Back in 2017 YouTube launched YouTube TV which is the company’s solution that offers live TV on the internet.

The offering has been growing but now YouTube has made another move, allowing subscribers of Paramount+ and other services to access content via YouTube.

These services can be accessed through something YouTube is calling Primetime Channels. Access to Paramount+, STARS, AMC+ and Showtime among others will require additional payments, of course.

“People already come to YouTube to watch trailers for highly anticipated movies, or clips of scenes from their favourite TV episodes. Now you can continue watching directly on YouTube. And you will continue to have choice and control over your accounts with the ability to manage all of them in one place,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.

While YouTube talks up Paramount+, there are a plethora of streaming services available via Primetime Channels as showcased in the image below.

Given that YouTube is fielding payments for these platforms, it will be sharing advertising revenue as well as subscriptions with its partners as reported by Ars Technica.

What we find interesting is that content from Primetime Channels will appear alongside other YouTube content in recommendations and search results.

However, Primetime Channels will be competing with other creators on an even footing. This is according to Erin Teague, head of sports, movies and shows at YouTube. The executive told The Verge that Primetime Channel content won’t be given any preferential treatment. Of course, this could change but it’s good for the YouTube ecosystem as a whole given that independent creators are the beating heart of the platform.

Amalgamating content isn’t a terrible idea but it doesn’t solve the problem of subscription fatigue. The multitude of streaming services means viewers need multiple subscriptions and those fees rack up quickly. Whether executives who fought to rip their content from other streaming services would buy into an aggregated streaming service is not clear but we have severe doubts that’s something they want.

However, the allure of not needing to build or maintain a streaming app and simply being able to piggyback off of YouTube may just be temptation enough but that’s speculation on our part.

For the time being Primetime Channels are only available in the US and there isn’t even a whisper of expansion right now.