A new radio show on SiriusXM, programmed by YouTube fans, starts today. Current Analysis analyst Brad Shimmin says that this kind of crowd-based programming “represents both the peril and promise of analytics-driven content.” He noted that, even as the Google-owned YouTube “is exploring some monetization models more aggressively,” too much of this kind of democratic program selection could jeopardize the “expert-curated content” that historically has found many of the new directions in music. The hour-long weekly show, called “YouTube 15,” will air on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 channel.
YouTube today is launching an hour-long weekly show on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 channel featuring songs that are trending on the video-sharing site. The SiriusXM Hits 1 team will select songs based on the view counts established artists get over recent weeks, as well as percentage growth in views emerging artists see. Called the YouTube 15, the show will air Fridays at 6:00 and 9:00 PM EST, Saturdays at 2:00 PM EST and Sundays at 8:00 EST, as well as on-demand via SiriusXM.com. Jenna Marbles, a YouTube personality with over 13 million subscribers, has been tapped to run through each week’s song selections. Given the rumors that Google is building a YouTube music subscription service, the debut of today’s show shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The goal is to increasingly make YouTube a music destination, and get users hooked before they even have the option to pay and subscribe.
