The YouTube operations of Google have cut a deal with Verizon Wireless to provide content for its cell phones. The arrangement is viewed as "a selling point for its subscription multimedia service and a temporary edge over competitors".
So the theory goes. But it may not make any sense.
Verizon has 57 million subscribers. The YouTube content will work on phones that can run the company’s VCast offering, although it is not clear what portion of its subcribers have these. The VCast service costs $15 a month and currently runs mainstream video content.
Do Verizon customers really want to watch tiny screen versions of men in their underwear lip syncing songs from the "BackStreet Boys"? Or people driving through fast food lines in "Fast Food" freestyle?
One of the advantages of YouTube is that the viewer can examine thousands of videos and pick the ones they would like to watch.
On a cellphone that is much, much harder to do Verizon will update the YouTube content daily, but who decides what goes on the phones? Will it match the tastes of the VCast subscribers?
It is a deal that looks good, but only on paper.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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