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Comment by Someone1234 | Hacker News Reader

Their branding is horrifying.

YouTube Red, Music Key, Google Android Play Music All Access Subscription, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the actual service they provide is good, and Music Key (advert free YouTube music videos) was a nice value add. This too will only expand Music Key into other videos.

I do worry a little bit that long term Google Music subscribers will wind up seeing price increases to pay for YouTube Red. If all I want is JUST Google Music, then all I should have to pay for is JUST Google Music, and that is fine today as there are no price increases, but ask me again when the first price rise is announced a few months from now.

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Okay, I'll say it. When I see "Red" and "Tube" so close together, my mind jumps to the porn site, RedTube. They can't possibly have been ignorant of this

Who's gonna be the one to bring that up in the branding meeting?

"And we're thinking we'll call it Youtube Red"

"Uh........... yknow that's... it's... i heard once that... nevermind".

I don't know how many marketers you know, but the ones I know would be perfectly comfortable bringing this up. It's kinda their job to know about this sort of thing.

Matt Cutts' wife used to pass out "porn cookies" if anyone found porn with safe settings on. Google's culture is very permitting, so I don't think it's much of a problem.

Statistically close to half the people in that meeting watch porn on a regular basis... so maybe one of them.

Wouldn't a Google search of this branding have done the trick?

It won't be a problem - Alphabet will just "make them an offer they can't refuse" and within a year, RedTube will re-direct to Youtube Red. (The offer being, let us buy your domain name for a reasonable price, or we'll sue you out of existence.)

lol on what grounds could Google possibly sue RedTube? They don't own the word "tube", which has been a reference to television since the beginning. I don't think you know what you're talking about.

Apparently they're actually "comfortable with it."

http://www.thewrap.com/youtube-exec-on-comparisons-to-porn-s...

"In a Q&A session with reporters Wednesday at YouTube Space Los Angeles, company executives were asked if they were concerned that consumers would confuse their new YouTube Red product with RedTube, an online porn platform.

“We did a lot of consumer testing, so we were comfortable with it,” Robert Kyncl, YouTube chief business officer, said of the name."

Yeah, they may be comfortable with it in consumer testing with people familiar with YouTube, but what about the people who never remember what anything is called and say things like Faceplace for Facebook, or Foxfire or "The Internet" for Firefox? If YouTube Red becomes popular (which I assume is something Google wants), you know these same people will be calling it things like TubeRed or RedTube.

Maybe Google is ok with watching the awkwardness that will ensue, since it probably won't cause them any monetary harm.

Then I have to wonder what RedTube thinks about this. Mistakes could result in a lot of extra traffic, but is it worth it? I believe they're owned by the same company that owns 5 or 6 other similar sites, so maybe they won't be too concerned.

The web was already there once, like whitehouse.com, see the Wikipedia entry:

"Part of the controversy about whitehouse.com was that users (especially minors in most cases) wishing to visit the website of the White House (www.whitehouse.gov) could easily go to the adult website instead."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinctio...

In a professional setting, in the context of a marketing/naming discussion, I doubt anyone would have a problem saying "that's too close to the name of a popular porn site". Nobody whose humor has grown past a 12-year-old's will respond to that with "and how exactly do you know that?"; it's the job of the people in that room to know about myriad brands and products that they may or may not use, and the connotations of various names.

This way of thinking reminds me of when everyone was shocked that Apple would call a product the iPad, dooming it to forever be mocked with feminine-hygiene references.

My immediate impression from the name (after I re-read the header and realized this is not about RedTube) - is Google/YouTube entering the adult video streaming market?

I'm just waiting on RedTube's new paid service called RedTube You.

yeah what the heck. I better get some higher quality streaming for pr0nzerz

I believe Music Key at this point is dead (Youtube Red replaces it). Music Key was only ever in beta and not ever fully launched (as it was invite only). So as far as I'm aware there are only 2 music/video subscriptions now: Youtube Red and Google Play Music.

* The opinions stated here are my own, not necessarily those of my company.

> I believe Music Key at this point is dead (Youtube Red replaces it). Music Key was only ever in beta and not ever fully launched (as it was invite only). So as far as I'm aware there are only 2 music/video subscriptions now: Youtube Red and Google Play Music.

Substantively, it seems that their is just one, with two different names: the announcement indicates that YouTube Red will include Google Play Music subscription, and vice versa, and the pricing is the same, so essentially there is one audio/video subscription service.

Different websites on different urls with different giant Javascript application, also different mobile apps, and built by different Google business units. So two services.

You mean like these Amazon Prime ("No shipping, please") subscribers that ended up either paying for ~other stuff~ or cancelling, like I did?

I guess it makes sense to merge offers into one big 'You probably want some of this' bucket - for the company.

For sure...when I think "video" and "red" I think of these guys:

http://www.red.com/

When I think of "tube" and "red" the association is more unfortunate.

I still can't get over Google Play Books

There's even worse now: Google Play For Work: https://support.google.com/googleplay/work/answer/6137711?hl...

Similarly, I can't believe the iOS App Store is still heavily under the iTunes umbrella (at least online, I don't really use iOS enough to know what the device experience is like).

Eh you can use an idevice without ever needing to launch iTunes on a PC.

Really I was speaking more of the website than iTunes itself. If you browse the App Store online it's all under the iTunes website (with plenty of iTunes branding thrown in). It makes no sense.

Too bad Google Reader is already taken... oh wait.

What happened?

Google decided to rename Android Market to Google Play and along the way decided to rename the siblings apps as well : Google Play Movies Google Play Games Google Play Books

I think this refers to the branding. Is google making an app for football and baseball teams to collaborate on playbooks?

When I see YouTube Red, I think Bono is somehow involved.

I thought it was "red" for red band trailers.

I thought they'd bought Redtube.

Yep, maybe Bono has a trademark he can enforce? Seems like it was definitely a differentiated brand a while back which (YouTube)RED is now trying to piggyback on.

Was horrifying. Now it's just YouTube Red and Google Play Music subscription.

But aren't both the same?

Essentially they are the same. Technically they are different but they include the other.

Why not make it simple for people and just use one name? How does the "technically different" part affect people?

> Why not make it simple for people and just use one name?

Because YouTube Red is a brand targeted at people who are using YouTube now and want it to be ad free. Google Play Music All Access is a side benefit for that audience.

(Conversely, Google Play Music All Access is an existing product targeting people who want unlimited music streaming -- while the music use of YouTube is somewhat relevant to that audience, ad free YouTube viewing isn't a core benefit to that audience; so with the YouTube Red coming on board and including, and being included by, Google Play Music All Access, you've got one substantive product with two different brands targeted at different audiences.)

I suppose because it's clear what you get with those names.

But it isn't clear because "YouTube Red" is meaningless.

Weren't they trying to divide YouTube from "Google" as well, this kind of doesn't help, but I would either have gone with YouTube Plus or Play Plus, seeing as others pointed out "Red" and "Tube" sounding awful together.

> Weren't they trying to divide YouTube from "Google" as well, this kind of doesn't help

It might, in the long term. The next step after expanding the services offered under Google Play Music subscription and adding a new name for it (without immediately disrupting anything) might well be retiring the old name, moving the whole audio/video streaming product area under the YouTube brand.

So was "Google" until they built up brand awareness.

No? YouTube Red is ad-free videos on youtube.com along with music videos. Play Music subscription is all access to music in play music.

Also plenty of people don't realize/know/care that youtube is owned by Google. They are still a pretty independent brand from a consumer perspective.

> No? YouTube Red is ad-free videos on youtube.com along with music videos. Play Music subscription is all access to music in play music.

"And as a special bonus - YouTube Red works with Google Play Music, so subscribe to one and automatically get access to the other."

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2015/10/red.html

So, they're different, but as each includes the other and they have the same $9.99 price, the difference is essentially purely academic.

I agree with your point, but "Google Android Play Music All Access Subscription" is an exaggeration. It's "just" Google Play Music All Access.

Google Play Music All Access I'm Feeling Lucky Radio, on the other hand, is a thing. A thing to which I am listening right now, I should add.

That's almost more confusing than the old Microsoft's naming conventions. Which they still struggle with on somethings...but they are getting better.

I still feel like I'm the only one who thinks Surface Book sounds awful. Microsoft could of done one of those things where they just call it what it is and put "Microsoft" in front of it, Microsoft Book, but Microsoft Surface Book, even just Surface Book sounds weird to me. Maybe it's just me though.

I still can't believe Google chose Play as the name of app market.

TubeRed also looks like it should be pronounced "toob-ered".

Also, if Youtube Red wants to become some kind of Netflix competitor down the line, expect even more draconian "anti-piracy" moves from Youtube/Google to please the MPAA (which you just know they are going to ask for them before they make any deal).

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