Would you pay for YouTube? Google think so

It's no secret that YouTube is the go to source for instantly watching online videos these days, with YouTube access being a consideration when people are buying anything from tablets and phones, to consoles and TVs, let alone PCs. But now that YouTube is in such a dominant position, as the internet video platform, it seems that they are considering launching a subscription model for those who do not want to see adverts.

Obviously nobody wants to see adverts if they can avoid them, so maybe this subscription will be reasonably priced and will help drive advertisers away from advertising on YouTube. However it is far more likely that those who do not subscribe will be piled with even more adverts than they are at the moment, in an effort to encourage them to upgrade to the subscription service.

Google have been “fine-tuning the experience” over the last few months according to Robert Kyncl, head of content and business operations for YouTube. They had previously experimented with some paid services on a per channel basis for subscribers and also for some specific media such as movies. With the new subscription service, we are not yet sure if this will apply to all YouTube videos or just a selected bunch of content or channels, it is not yet known when Youtube will announce the service either, so we'll just have to wait for now.

For now though there is always AdBlock or one of the many alternatives out there, that allow you to skip past or totally avoid most of the adverts on the site. Obviously this, in the end also harms the content creators, and many creators have been turning to Kickstarter and Patreon to fund some of their more ambitious projects. This way those that want to support the continued production of high quality, well produced videos can do so, while those that want to watch for free can generally also do so after a short exclusivity period for those that have paid.

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KitGuru Says: While I can appreciate that Google wants to start making some money from YouTube, for content creators who want to make money there are plenty of other platforms for them to use such as Vimeo which is almost as well supported on a wide range of devices. I guess we will have to wait and see what Google announce, do you have any expectations?

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