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Verizon Go90 Streaming Service a Huge 'Dud' Say Partners

Verizon partners say the company's streaming video service is a dud. Verizon's Millennial-focused streaming video service Go90 was launched with great fanfare by Verizon last fall, but every indication is that the effort has under-performed by relatively huge margin. Speaking to investors last June, even Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam admitted that Verizon "over-hyped" while candidly admitting that content is "not exactly our strong suit."

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Yet Verizon has spent billions on acquiring AOL and Yahoo in order to try and become a content company anyway, even if it's not apparently very good at it.

The Go90 app had already been tumbling down the charts at both app stores, but reports this week quote several Verizon partners that are painfully unimpressed with the effort.

Some insider say the numbers are astonishingly bad (as in just a few thousand views for promoted videos. Others were quick to declare the effort "a dud" and "far far worse" than Verizon's original projections:
quote:
"Early on, we thought the platform had promise, but it was an absolute dud when it launched,” says one Go90 publishing partner. “We get the sense that unless you’re one of the premier folks they paid piles of money to [for original content], there isn’t much there from a traffic perspective,” said another. “Based on the plan they had originally laid out, it would have been a mid-tier platform for us — millions of views per month, at worst — but it’s turned out to be far, far worse than their projections,” says yet another."
Of course Verizon customers waiting for FiOS remain frustrated that the company can throw around billions of dollars in a ham-fisted attempt to become the next Google or Facebook, but isn't willing to upgrade millions of customers still plodding along on last-generation DSL lines. But there's no real indication from the report that Verizon intends to shift its trajectory, the company bringing in a number of content-focused executives to try and get the effort back on track.

Most recommended from 28 comments



karpodiem
Hail to The Victors
Premium Member
join:2008-05-20
Troy, MI

23 recommendations

karpodiem

Premium Member

Add Yahoo to the pile

So much wasted money that could have been spent on FTTH.
shanghaista
join:2014-08-03
Canton, MA

14 recommendations

shanghaista

Member

Good Riddance

See, I understand that they're a business and they need to make money. But when this tanks (and everyone saw this tanking) when they could have instead built fiber, THAT'S what's infuriating. They blew fistful after fistful of money trying to buy their way into this arena whereas a FiOS buildout would have generated solid - though perhaps not moonshot - returns.

I'm sure they'll keep banging their heads against the wall though.

Wonder what the new CFO's comments will be regarding both Go90 and their lack of interest in expanding FiOS. SHAMmo toed the company line of "we do what's best for our shareholders".
TheMasterFab
join:2016-02-17

7 recommendations

TheMasterFab

Member

In other news...

The sky is blue, water is wet, and Hillary is a career criminal.

karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Moscow, ID

5 recommendations

karlmarx

Member

If 'The Runner' is the best they can do

That was a complete and utter failure. I managed to sit through a total of 2 days. In the 2 hours of 'content' that Verizon Go90 broadcast, there was about 10 minutes of 'the runner' and 110 minutes of talking heads and advertising for Go90. It's no surprise it was a complete train wreck. If that's the 'best' they can produce with an A-level producer, then Go90 has ZERO chance of being around for even another year. They just..don't.. get it.. They took a good concept for a show, and ruined it by NON STOP talking about Verizon Go90. It felt like a 'sponsored link' on a web site, where you think you are going to get content, but you get a slick Ad.
I understand they don't see a future in 'the wire'. As I've said in the past, and I will repeat. This hubris of focus on wireless WILL be their downfall. For the last several years, almost ALL their profit has come from wireless, and though it's working well today, it will fail. They are as dumb as trump, doubling down on a loosing proposition, in the insane hopes that it will 'magically' get better. Good riddance go Go90, and I hope it takes Verizon wireless down with it.
jorcmg
join:2002-10-24
USA

4 recommendations

jorcmg

Member

Oh boy

Anything leftover from the 90s dotcom crap that Verizon is likely to buy. I've got a crisp hamilton and I am ready to go betting on the penny stocks. I think I will go webtv. Sounds like something they'd love to get their hands on.

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

4 recommendations

r81984

Premium Member

No one knows about it.

I am a verizon wireless customer and I have no knowledge of this Go90 service outside DSLreports. I really did not even know what it was until this post. I still dont know exactly what it offers.

I would say they failed on purpose for some tax right offs. Nothing else explains the horrible lack of simple marketing.
vonTerrible
join:2016-09-09

3 recommendations

vonTerrible

Member

Same idea, different company

What's amazing is that no one seems to remember what happened to AOL Time Warner. When that merger occurred it was thought that the synergy between the two would lead to massive growth and profits. AOL got Time Warner's massive collection of print and television companies, as well as its high speed Cable lines. Time Warner in turn got a established foothold in the Dot Com economy.

People who actually took a closer look at the deal knew it was doomed to failure. First off, when you restrict your product to your network, there is no chance for growth, unless, of course, you grow your network.

Second, and this is why Verizon's opposition to net neutrality is actually bad for the company is that other internet providers could retaliate and block your products on your network. I haven't read how the FCC got around this back then.

Since their streaming bid appears to have fallen flat, and very little among the acquisitions of AOL and Yahoo, Verizon's rivals can go ahead and embargo them. I can only imagine the fights that'll erupt between Verizon and Comcast. That is before you factor in the wireless industry.