See ya, Verizon! YouTube reaches all mobile outlets

There once was an exclusive agreement between Verizon and Google, parent company of YouTube, that allowed them exclusive broadcast rights to a select portion of the YouTube library. This worked well in conjunction with Verizon’s V-Cast service, which streams video over a subscriber’s mobile phone (for the low-low price of $15 per month!).

That agreement has apparently come to a close.

With its new mobile-ready site – m.youtube.com — YouTube has now opened itself to all mobile users with a data plan. On the surface, this would appear to hurt Verizon; losing an exclusive deal is never a positive. However, after we looked at the numbers, we have a few questions.

We found out that only 1.3 percent of US wireless users actually watch videos on their phones. There are supposedly some 230 to 250 million mobile subscribers in the US, so that number is still quite large. However, it does represent a market that is ripe for the taking. As technology increases, we’ll be sure to see that percentage increase — possibly drastically.

So while Verizon loses exclusivity, it still offers the service, which is all that will matter in the long run. Seriously, how many people follow this line of thinking: “Well, I could go with AT&T or Verizon, but Verizon offers access to YouTube, so I’m going with them.” Probably not many.

This is really just the beginning of what looks to be a rise in the mobile video market. We’re no analysts, but everything we’ve seen and read points to all phones becoming “smart phones” sometime in the not so distant future. Google sees this, and are exploiting it while the market is still relatively fresh.

Anyone else have a take on this?

[Forbes]

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