YouTube and PlutoTV: The New Avenues in Television Programming

This isn't to say that free platforms are more favorable, but sometimes open availability has its benefits.

Times change. That simple statement can also be applied to the information and entertainment we consume, escaping from realities of daily life. That couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to radio, television and, now, internet—main sources of entertainment. Given price increases in the last ten to fifteen years, you'd think that cable companies and their shareholders would know better. Frugality being at the forefront, we have to re-evaluate what is most affordable at the best price. For those who love TV shows and movies, we've been blessed with some options—mostly free! Being the giants they're becoming, it's time we talk about YouTube and PlutoTV.

Shareholders or customers?

An effective method of a boycott is to "hit them in the pockets." Whenever reports release about companies aiming to lower prices or trying to win customers back, it makes us smile. This isn't to say that whatever we want should be free, but sometimes, so many of these corporate entities turn a blind eye to customer needs and not caring. To all fellow customers, the method is simple: If the product(s)/service(s) you want is served poorly, stop consuming it. This goes for shows and movies themselves: If the program(s) is unsatisfactory nor entertaining in the least, you stop consuming—watching—it. It's like production companies cater to their shareholders and feeding into the controversial ideologies affecting our well-being and children no matter the backlash; They don't care and never will. As soon as such backlash pulls through, then they listen to their fans/customers. Almost as if they're trying to slap us in the face, and the moment they learn that customers "slap back," then they take a step back. Finances are growing tighter and tighter, so making better choices when it comes to consumption is key, and if that means getting rid of your social media accounts or smart devices, then do so. Remember: It's your Life, don't worry about mass layoffs from these corporate companies and "changes" that executives plan to win customers back in order to keep their jobs; You decide and choose what you want to do.

For that, there are platforms where you can get your entertainment fix for free! You can tell from the title, they are YouTube and PlutoTV. Though these platforms don't need an introduction nor an explanation, they both offer plenty of options for your entertainment fix. For YouTube, some of that entertainment includes original, user-created content—content made by 'regular' people. I can't speak for everyone, but with the exception of certain channels and live streams, user-created content is good enough for me, honestly. Some people may want more, but again, there's plenty to find and choose on YouTube. It's an open platform featuring content from social commentary to original comedy, to video game play to video blogs, and from compilation videos to news reports; There's lots to check on YouTube enough to satisfy and entertainment in any way. You don't have to create an account to access it, but it's encouraged you do so.

The other platform we want to praise, though it's more streaming and not so much "video on demand," is PlutoTV. Each show has its own channel, as the platform runs through all possible episodes for that very title; The same goes for some movies. There are also channels made for kids! This platform is the closest thing to regular cable TV being that it includes an on-screen guide. For sports fans, while league channels show replays of popular games, from regular season to playoffs, we haven't seen an instance where they aired an actual live game during their season (we hope they do in the future!). I believe that if a sports league were to test airing a live game on PlutoTV, I think it's "game over" for cable and other streaming platforms. Why? It's available for free, and despite being at the mercy of commercial ads, it should generate enough viewers to compensate (we have no inside scoop into the executive programming and decisions made by sports leagues, but this sounds like a great idea they can try). Other than that, whether it's live streaming replays or airing live games on PlutoTV, it's time sports leagues take advantage of this for a wider reach. In fact, the Formula One channel streams replays of their circuits on PlutoTV, so for those who missed last week's race can immediately catch up on the app! It's doesn't get any easier than that. (Fun fact: In this year's schedule, NFL will live stream one of their games on YouTube—live from Brazil.)

"Consumers gon' consume"

It's an unfortunate fact that there are many people who are comfortable being lazy. Always consuming, yet not working nor creating. Since this won't likely change in the near future, production companies, artists of all kinds and content creators ought to take advantage of this "quiet demand." On the user-created space, even if very few people subscribe or tune in to your videos, it will be found and noticed; That includes us since we much prefer YouTube channels with a smaller following. For PlutoTV, it will be the straw that breaks the cable camel's back, realizing that those who enjoy the classics, along with live news, weather, movies and stuff for the kids makes this an excellent platform to tune in. You know how music fans yell "encore" after the artist(s)/band(s) finished performing? That can be applied to shows and movies people love and enjoy as well. (That's right: Music and music channels are also available on both YouTube and PlutoTV.)

Convenience: The secret to garnering a wide audience

Access to resources continues getting easier for us. Since items and services continue to rise in prices, one of the smartest moves an entity can make is making their product(s) available at the best price possible or free if anything (this depends on the product[s], of course). I understand that money ought to be made since nothing in Life is free, however, making your platform as accessible as possible even if it means depending on viewership and advertisements is a trade-off we're willing to make. It's the best way to consume something without having to pay for something, and if people want to pay for it, there are plenty of other alternatives to do so; No need to get locked into these two which are the topic of this article. For those who prefer physical media, like we do, if your favorite shows and movies are available on DVD, Blu-ray or 4K, we recommend those as well while using these platforms to watch on the go!

Along with other free streaming platforms like Tubi, Sling TV Freestream or Amazon Freevee, these two are ones where we watch our favorite content the most. Point of this article is that convenience and availability are of upmost importance given the decline in paying for services we love in response to being in "survival mode" at this current moment. For executives of paid platforms, this isn't a call to make ALL your services free, though that would be nice, but it's to recognize the realities that many of us 'regular people' are faced with, financially. Sure, $9.99 a month doesn't sound like much, but it does add up over time (though not our problem, but many people often forget to unsubscribe/cancel the services they pay for yet blame other people, and the platforms themselves, for charging them). Anyway, there ought to be some sort of balanced deal between us consumers and the companies themselves. Please don't yell and put the blame on consumers for not being able to pay and afford your product(s) and service(s). You wouldn't be where you are if it weren't for customers.

(As fans of radio, we say the same thing especially among platforms that require a subscription. Even though majority of radio are free and available online to listen and stream, plenty of these radio stations will have to find some way not only to make enough money but garner a big-enough audience. On the side of sports, like cable TV, blackouts are still a thing—a great tactic to upset and anger customers/fans, yet these sports teams and leagues wonder why viewership is down. There's no reason to pay for something if the end product isn't great. In the case of sports, there's no reason to pay for a team whose plan is to "tank" as a means to get the number one draft pick next season. Nevertheless, if you're going to implement blackouts, at least communicate with the viewers/listeners letting them know what channel to tune in to, instead of leaving them in the dust. It's no wonder sports fans are tired of watching/listening to sports they can't access, yet are never informed what channel or service to buy or subscribe to in order to watch/listen to the game. That's like a customer asking an employee where the bathroom is, and the employee just stares at them with no response. Yeah, 'round of applause for these sports leagues and sports networks in providing great customer service. "Communication is key," right?)

In conclusion, platforms like YouTube and PlutoTV are reminders of where the market is headed towards. We're all trying to get by, and with prices plus fees being added onto the final price is bad enough already. No matter what, customers will consume to their heart's content and making them happy is the number one priority. Not everything will go in anyone's way, you just have to be resilient and be open to change...but that's too "philosophical" for a topic like this.

Thank you to YouTube and thank you to PlutoTV for crafting the business models you have today. Sure, it's a challenge to rely on advertisements to get by but at this rate, it's an exchange we're okay with (we can't speak for all people about this). Other than that, we're very thankful for both platforms providing entertainment, be it user-created content, reruns of our favorite shows and/or movies, newly-produced shows, or even music from popular artists or independent ones. We're very happy and always tune in when we can.

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he started blogging in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, plus playing old video/MS-DOS games, digital video archiving, listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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