Verizon had high hopes for Go90, which was given that name because smartphone users typically tilt their devices 90 degrees to watch video on a horizontal screen, but the mobile video market has gotten more crowded in the past few years as wireless provides offer unlimited data plans and smartphone screens get larger and more sophisticated. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Google are among the companies that are ramping up video content to appeal to advertisers and younger viewers, but they also have had their share of difficulties. Since its rollout last August, Facebook has struggled to drive viewership on its Watch video service. A study by social video analytics company Delmondo found the average viewing time to be just 23 seconds.
Go90's end comes as telecom companies like Verizon have spent billions of dollars on content strategies to boost the value proposition of a mobile subscription, most recently culminating in AT&T's $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner. The strategy makes sense, especially as households cancel cable service in favor of video streaming services like Netflix. But video can be expensive to produce, which means reaching a mass audience and booking advertising spots is critical for profitability. Even without Go90, Verizon continues to invest in content, as seen with its exclusive agreements to distribute NFL and NBA games and related content through Yahoo Sports. The company also is looking to boost news and entertainment mobile content, per Variety.
In addition to sports programming, Verizon bought content from AwesomenessTV, Complex Networks, Vice Media, New Form and Endemol Shine North America. Verizon also spent heavily on technology, with the $200 million acquisition of OnCue, a former division of Intel that had developed an over-the-top video service that never rolled out. Verizon later acquired Vessel, a struggling internet-video startup and laid off most of the former OnCue team to give the former Vessel team control of Go90's development. Chip Canter, a former executive in NBCUniversal's digital distribution group, was hired in 2016 as Go90's general manager but left the company last year.
Source: https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/verizon-pulls-plug-on-go90-mobile-streaming/526948/