West Coast tech giants Google and Amazon are amping up their offensive to win your eyeballs, your viewing data — and your wallet.
On Wednesday, just 24 hours after Amazon announced its first major sports deal — tying up with the NFL to stream 10 Thursday night games — Google laid claim to viewers’ credit cards by debuting YouTube TV, a bundle of 50 major television channels for $35 per month.
The YouTube unit, run by Susan Wojcicki, wants to replace your cable company — but the effort went off half-cocked, opening in just five regions — the New York City metro area, the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles Chicago and Philadelphia.
The TV packages would also be geographically different, a result of local broadcast TV groups that are yet to sign on.
YouTube TV is free of charge for the first month though Apple device users will pay an extra $5 per month.
Wojcicki, in an interview with CNN, bragged that YouTube is reaching more of the coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographic than traditional TV, on mobile alone.
For the first time, she added, “media buyers are looking at YouTube right alongside their TV buys.”
That sentiment seems about a month old, in view of the recent comments of advertisers who yanked YouTube ad spending in after finding their spots tied to hate-spewing sites.
On Wednesday, YouTube TV’s offerings included a live English soccer match between Chelsea FC and Manchester City — making it stand out from standard cable offerings. Customers can add a Fox Soccer Plus channel for $15 and Showtime for $11.
Still, the bundle as structured did not include channels from Turner Broadcasting, Discovery, Viacom or Scripps. AMC Networks said its channels are coming soon.
“What’s going to happen when people realize there’s no [complete] March Madness or the NBA playoffs,” said one TV source about the absence of Turner.
The bundle does offer Fox News and MSNBC but not CNN.
The YouTube entry follows on the heels of Amazon’s streaming TV upgrade. The NFL package will help the e-tailing giant sell more league merchandise and lure users to click on other products, sources said.
Amazon will stream games broadcast on both CBS and NBC with the same ad lineup — plus will be able to sell a small number of ads in each break.
“Its the Amazonification of TV,” said The Diffusion Group’s Joel Espelien, explaining that tech companies can offer streaming skinny bundles at very low margins. He said the Google-owned live TV bundle was an effort to “move up the monetization food chain.”
YouTube TV will be the fourth entrant in the virtual TV space — following Sling, DirecTV Now, PlayStationVue, and will soon faceoff against a formidable force in Hulu’s upcoming bundle and smaller independent offerings from operators such as Pluto TV.