In a bid to to compete with YouTube, Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk is reportedly planning to launch a television app, for Amazon and Samsung smart televisions, according to a a tweet shared on platform X by Musk where he wrote, “Coming Soon.”
“Coming soon”– Elon Musk
Musk is reportedly “set on competing” YouTube, Twitch, Signal, and Reddit among others.
The app will repeatedly feature a set of other platforms that will allow users to access all sorts of functions. Sources close to X suggest that the interface of the app will be “identical” to Google’s YouTube television — the most-watched streaming platform in 2023, as per stats.
Prior to the potential launch of this upcoming application, X introduced ‘Articles’ to share long-form written content on the platform. Premium users of X pay are allowed to post articles on the platform with text, embedded images, and videos.
“Articles is a new way to share long-form written content on X. Publishing Articles is a feature limited to Premium+ subscribers and Verified Organizations. Articles are available globally,” the company said in a statement.
“Once published, an article can be read and shared by anyone on X according to the audience controls you’ve selected for the article,” the company added.
Last October, X also introduced an early version of video and audio calling. “The billionaire had said he planned to turn it into a super app offering services from messaging to peer-to-peer payments,” Reuters reported.
Reuters quoted a Fortune report that said “the app could look similar to the TV app offered by Google’s YouTube.” The report cited an unidentified source as saying Musk was set on competing with YouTube.
X has been joining forces with former Fox commentator Tucker Carlson and former CNN anchor Don Lemon in a bid to become a ‘video first platform,’ media outlets suggest.
To offer services across the U.S., experts say X will need a money transmitter license in each state, and Musk has previously said that approval in New York and California would be the most consequential. Some other states including Pennsylvania and Utah have already granted money transmitter licenses to X, Reuters report says.
Fortune reports that Musk’s goal is to encourage users to watch “long videos on a bigger screen,” part of a plan first teased in July designed to make X more attractive to online influencers and advertisers.
