With Google losing, by one analyst’s estimate last year, around $60 million annually on its virtual pay TV platform, YouTube TV, you might thing that the vMVPD would be just another telecom-facing service the Silicon Valley giant soon gives up on, like Google Fiber.
But Google seems dug in for the long haul.
YouTube TV is “an exciting product,” declared Google CEO Sundar Pichai, speaking earlier this week during its company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
“It's differentiated and has long run value for us because it brings our advertising products together including being able to serve it across TV,” Pichai added. “So we are clearly investing in areas where we see opportunity. We are pretty thorough about making sure our investments deliver growth on the other side. And so we monitored with metrics and beat engagement and revenue growth and we see a lot of opportunity here.
Related: YouTube TV is Losing Money, But is There a Path to Profit?
YouTube TV just announced late last month that it has finally completed its national rollout nearly two years after launch, with the live-streaming service available in 98% of the U.S.
Google recently launched a national advertising campaign for the platform, which has been running in heavy rotation during ABC/ESPN national coverage of the NBA. Mila Kunis narrates the spots, which use the tagline, “We’re all fans of something.”
