Google To Remove YouTube From Amazon Fire TV

10 thoughts on “Google To Remove YouTube From Amazon Fire TV”

  1. The Youtube app on the 2017 4K FireTv sucked anyway. Since it couldn’t play any of the 2160P60 videos. 2160P30 and lower were fine. My Rokus do a much better job with the UHD and HDR Youtube videos. Or my Sony UHD BD player also does a great job. But the 4K FireTV is one of the last devices I would choose to use for Youtube playback.

    So Google pulling Youtube from the Amazon devices is no issue for me.

  2. I bet they come to an understanding if Google is willing to keep playing hardball with them.
    Youtube is one of the few products big enough to lever Amazon with.

    I know since I got my Shield TV a couple of years ago I have slowly started watching more and more Youtube and less and less regular TV. I would guess I’m about 50/50.

  3. It’s a loss for sure but hard to say to either side will flinch. The YouTube “app” on Fire TV is mostly a web page and not really great, as aaronwt alluded to. In any event, another feather in Roku’s cap as the Switzerland of streaming.

  4. “It’s a loss for sure but hard to say to either side will flinch.”

    Worth noting that Apple is engaged in the exact same war with Amazon as Google, and Apple flinched first, (or at least, seems to have flinched first, assuming the deal actually gets done.) But Apple does seem to be slightly more exposed to Amazon’s power than Google, in a few different ways.

    So, yeah, it’s difficult to figure out if Google or Amazon will blink. Also, I’m surprised it’s taken this long! Before today, I found it odd that Google hadn’t taken this step.

    “In any event, another feather in Roku’s cap as the Switzerland of streaming.”

    Yup. But, as always, what’s good for Roku is also good for Amazon, and not good for Google or Apple. The dual existence of Roku and Fire TV is the core of Amazon’s strength in the lean-back space.

  5. Has nothing to do with Net Neutrality. These two companies are competing in the OTT marketplace, much like Dish and DirecTV do in the satellite TV marketplace.

  6. MJR, what’s keeping YouTube afloat is AdSense. Google (YouTube) is the biggest player in the internet ad business. Couple that with their paid service, YouTube Red, which nobody I know seems to subscribe to. They also get pennies on the dollar for each search query, but it’s peanuts compared to what they’re raking in with AdSense, which is virtually everywhere.

  7. Regarding net neutrality, Google does run an ISP…

    But yeah, Amazon flinched and then blinked and then put Chromecast back in the store. We shall see if Amazon Video enables casting and if Google allows the return of YouTube to Fire TV and Echo Show. Beyond a return, a full-on app might be nice vs a janky webpage. Then again, that’s kinda what Amazon stuck on Apple TV. So maybe fair is fair.

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