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Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

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Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#71

Post by SteveNuts »

lxgr wrote: post #30

Old movies have been available on various "free ad-supported streaming television" for a while now, so I'm actually more surprised it took copyright holders that long to realize that Youtube also shows ads and doesn't require people to install some wonky app that might or might not be available for their platform. Of course, region-specific copyright deals are incredibly complex etc. etc., so I could imagine it was j…

I assume that bandwidth is by far the biggest cost for running your own streaming service, so letting Google take that hit makes a lot of sense.

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#73

Post by mason55 »

enragedcacti wrote: post #45
bluedevil2k wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only 2 companies that made money during the “streaming wars” were Netflix, which had the infrastructure in place already and didn’t need to build anything from scratch, and Sony, which decided not to build any streaming service and just license all its content out. Seems WBD is following the lead of a winner. * https://www.yahoo.com/tech/sony-succeeded-becoming-powerful-...

Is it really following the lead of a winner if you started by building your own failing streaming service, then buying another streaming service and merging them, and only then starting to license out content?

Sure - that's why Sony is the winner. Other companies tried other things and lost. Now they see what the winner did and they're following their lead.

When WB started all this it wasn't clear what the winning strategy was going to be. Now that it is clearer, they're just following.

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#74

Post by guyzero »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #31
timmg wrote: post #2

I assume they get "monetization" from Youtube and they don't need to worry about hosting or discovery. Probably better than doing nothing with these films.

The only 2 companies that made money during the “streaming wars” were Netflix, which had the infrastructure in place already and didn’t need to build anything from scratch, and Sony, which decided not to build any streaming service and just license all its content out. Seems WBD is following the lead of a winner. * https://www.yahoo.com/tech/sony-succeeded-becoming-powerful-...

Sony built Crackle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crackle_(service) but it's failed at this point.

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#75

Post by atVelocet »

spunker540 wrote: post #67
realce wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Return Of The Living Dead Part II (1988, Zombie Horror Comedy, 5.7) My favorite zombie flick, if you've not seen it you need to!

Do I need to watch part 1 first?

Nope. Same applies to the third one.

Awesome funny movie and i think the best part of this „trilogy“.

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#76

Post by falcor84 »

rwmj wrote: post #42

When Jeremy Irons was asked why he did Dungeons & Dragons (2000), he replied "Are you kidding? I'd just bought a castle, I had to pay for it somehow" ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190374/trivia/ )

As someone with more modest means, I'm wondering - was that just a quip, or is it really possible for rich people to buy property first, and then figure out how to pay for it? How do they finance it?

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#77

Post by fullshark »

vintermann wrote: post #24

My guess it's that they do it to discover what "hidden gems" actually have potential, and that they may not stay free.

I can't imagine any of these have potential. The Crossing Delancy cinematic universe isn't coming anytime soon. I think they just want some short term juice.

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#79

Post by vlan0 »

SteveNuts wrote: post #71
lxgr wrote: post #30

Old movies have been available on various "free ad-supported streaming television" for a while now, so I'm actually more surprised it took copyright holders that long to realize that Youtube also shows ads and doesn't require people to install some wonky app that might or might not be available for their platform. Of course, region-specific copyright deals are incredibly complex etc. etc., so I could imagine it was j…

I assume that bandwidth is by far the biggest cost for running your own streaming service, so letting Google take that hit makes a lot of sense.

Bandwidth is a part, but that’s an easy hurdle. But running a CDN at that scale is gonna require experience and truck load of money. The juice really has to be worth the squeeze.

Similar to running on-prep vs cloud.

Re: Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

#80

Post by nemomarx »

browningstreet wrote: post #7
timmg wrote: post #2

I assume they get "monetization" from Youtube and they don't need to worry about hosting or discovery. Probably better than doing nothing with these films.

I'm a little surprised there isn't more of this. Building a streaming service is pretty expensive.. a lot of the platforms lost money doing so and really only made it back when they merged into an umbrella of other services. I'm also a little surprised no one has yet (AFAIK) done the "viral indie release to Youtube" path. I feel like it's sitting there waiting to be exploited.

I've seen a few things go that route - Hazbin Hotel was a YouTube pilot ish thing and got picked up on Amazon, I think amazing digital circus got grabbed by someone too.

No one seems to stay on YouTube when it happens though.

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