After a brief invite-only beta period, Verizon has officially made its new "Go90" mobile Internet video service available to all users. Go90 is Verizon's attempt to cater to Millenial ad markets by offering free, short-form video content on wireless devices, though if it's anything like similar telecom "me too" efforts, it will have a lot of work to do to draw a major audience. Verizon has avoided using the Verizon brand name in any of the marketing for the new service.
Go90 is now available on both
iTunes and
Google Play.
Most of the impressions of the service I've seen so far have been muted at best, noting a general lack of compelling content despite a laundry-list of content partners.
That was supposed to be dramatically improved by today's formal Go90 launch; Verizon says Go90 now features 8,000 titles and 35 exclusive original series from companies like MTV, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network and the NFL. That's a tally that should double by the end of the year.
"Brilliant coders and engineers and awesome content partners have invested an incredible amount of work and have taken care to create a video experience that until now has been missing for millennial and Gen Z viewers," Verizon said in a statement regarding the launch.
With its $4 billion AOL buy and Go90 launch, Verizon pretty clearly desperately wanted to distance itself from its history as a stodgy, anti-net neutrality, turf-protection oriented phone company. However, old habits die hard, innovation and disruption doesn't come easy to legacy giants, and only time will tell if customers really will turn to Verizon for their Internet video needs.
