Dive Brief:
- YouTube is requiring content producers to agree to appear on both the free and ad-free YouTube Red versions as part of the terms for the new Red version, but ESPN chose to pull its videos from the platform.
- ESPN’s parent company agreed to YouTube’s terms and will remain on both the free and subscription versions of the platform.
- The posts left online among ESPN’s 13 YouTube channels are videos three years old or older on the main ESPN channel.
Dive Insight:
According to a statement from ESPN, it is “not currently part of [YouTube]” and content that was previously available on YouTube can be found on ESPN’s digital properties. A spokesperson for YouTube said ESPN wasn’t on the platform due to rights and legal issues. One potential reason for the move is some ESPN video content includes third-party rights that change depending on if the content is or isn't distributed free.
ESPN is actually going against the grain of its parent company, Disney, which did agree to YouTube’s terms to keep its content, including clips from its ABC broadcast network shows, on the platform.
YouTube Red will officially launch this week with a $9.99 monthly subscription that gets users ad-free videos as well as download abilities to watch content offline, as well as additional benefits including a subscription to Google Play Music.
