YouTube Red announced this week that it had bought its first big-budget television series. The video streaming giant (itself part of internet behemoth Google), declared that it had won the race to produce a television extension of the Step Up movie franchise.
The popular teen dance drama series produced by married couple Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum (who starred in and met on the first entry in the franchise) makes a certain amount of sense for YouTube. The show, like the films, would presumably be light on plot, heavy on music, dance and style.
Related: Can Game of Thrones Hold on to the Crown?
For a $9.99 subscription fee, viewers would also gain access to YouTube’s music library, potentially helping the service position itself as a competitor to Spotify and Pandora. The subscription would also provide access to the other offerings in YouTube Red’s line-up.
The under-the-radar popularity of the franchise — it has made over $650 million at the box office despite its youthful demographic and lack of “serious” subject matter, which narrow its appeal — could make this the ideal franchise to finally put YouTube Red on the same field as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Go. But questions remain about the service’s ability to compete in an already overcrowded market, even with the muscle of Google behind it.
YouTube certainly believes it’s the right move, greenlighting a 10-episode run with a budget expected to be several million dollars per entry.
The announcement comes just as YouTube’s overall business face challenges on two fronts.
Earlier this month, 180 musicians, including luminaries ranging from Sir Paul McCartney and U2 to Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, all signed a petition asking Congress to reform the copyright laws applying to YouTube. For years now, nearly any song you wanted to hear could be found on YouTube for free as long as you were willing to watch a commercial. While the revenue stream gives YouTube an incentive to develop its own music platform, the musicians themselves have gotten little to none of this ad money. And YouTube’s music offering will face the typical online challenge of convincing users to pony up for something they are used to getting for free.
Related: Why the Massive Success of ‘Star Wars’ Will Be Terrible for Movies
Additionally, Facebook, which is increasingly becoming Google’s chief rival for internet dominance, has begun aggressively promoting itself as a video and livestreaming platform. Though the social media site hasn’t yet taken the bold step of producing original content — and might never go there — the ubiquity of its app means that it has a built-in audience for whatever it tries.