Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) ad-supported mobile video service, reportedly dubbed go90, is set to launch "in the coming days," Bloomberg reported.
Quoting an unnamed individual familiar with the service's development, Bloomberg's report matches the "late summer" period Verizon executives have been publicly targeting.
"Stay tuned, go90 will not be like anything you've seen from us before," Verizon told Multichannel News, without commenting further.
Likely named after the 90-degree tilt of a smartphone that users typically perform when they adjust their views for mobile video, go90 represents Verizon's attempt to cash in on the rise of mobile video. And the carrier has made no secret of its plans to develop content for the service: In July, Verizon announced that it signed a multi-year deal with Vice Media to bring Vice's content to the service. Verizon has also pledged to offer 200 hours of original programming from YouTube video specialist AwesomenessTV, sports programming from ESPN and CBS Sports, and made-for-cable reality series from Scripps Interactive Networks.
Earlier, Verizon had more ambitious programming plans, such as live feeds from the major broadcast networks. But those programming features won't be available at launch.
"It won't be the full entirety of everything that we contemplate within the product set," Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said during his company's second-quarter earnings call. "It'll be an initial launch and, as the year goes on, it will progress."
Verizon is targeting teens and young adults with go90, which will largely be supported by the programmatic advertising wherewithal Verizon ingested earlier this year when it bought AOL for $4.4 billion.
Verizon is hoping to tap the audience-growth power of social media, enabling videos on the service to be freely shared on popular platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Both Verizon and AT&T (NYSE: T) -- which also has mobile video plans -- are trying to create new revenue streams while operating in a maturing U.S. wireless market.
For more:
- read this Bloomberg story
- read this Multichannel News story
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Report: Verizon's mobile OTT video service to be called 'Go90,' will have some content exclusively for Verizon Wireless subs