Verizon’s Oath will now serve as primary content distribution platform
Verizon launched its Go90 mobile content distribution platform in 2015 in partnership with broadcasters MTV, Comedy Central, ESPN, Vice and other media producers. In June, the operator pulled the plug on the service, opting to fold it into its media brand Oath, a combination of acquisitions of AOL and Yahoo, which includes mobile video and advertising, and is headed by former AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.
The company said in a statement: “Following the creation of Oath, Go90 will be discontinued. Verizon will focus on building its digital-first brands at scale in sports, finance, news and entertainment for today’s mobile customers and tomorrow’s 5G applications.”
As is his wont, T-Mobile US CEO John Legere took a moment to highlight his firm’s own focus on mobile video based on the acquisition of Layer3 TV while also throwing major shade at Verizon’s investment in Go90.
From a blog post, styled as a letter addressed to Verizon and Go90, Legere said, “Thank you for teaching us what not to do…It seems like just yesterday you were telling us how you were going to reinvent the ad model or spending bajillions to broadcast epic dunks or hiring Matt Damon for original programming or stuffing bloatware down our throats.”
“We hardly knew you, and you’re already gone,” Legere continued. “I know the tens of people who watched you are probably pretty torn up right now, but I know they’ll get through. We’re pretty torn up too. You gave us so much to laugh about. So. Very. Much.”
At a conference hosted by Recode in February, Armstrong all but said Go90’s days were numbered, referring to it as “a super ambitious project. We had two separate strategies” for Go90 and Oath, he said, and “now it will be one strategy. We have taken Go90 into Oath. The brand will remain. I don’t know for how long.”
