YouTube to launch pay channels

[Jazzy]

Internet giant YouTube is poised to announce a series of pay channels, an industry source has revealed.

The content will be in addition to the millions of videos viewers watch for free on YouTube. It is not clear whether the paid videos will come with advertising.

YouTube said it was looking into creating a "subscription platform" that provides its partners with a way to generate revenue beyond video rentals and placing ads in and around content. It said, however, that it had "nothing to announce at this time."

Executives hinted at the coming pay channels at a preview event in March ahead of a meeting in New York with advertisers.

Such a model could help video producers make money from niche audiences. That is different from how YouTube works now, where the most popular videos, like Psy's Gangnam Style music video, make the most money from advertising.

One example given by executives was of video lessons by a computer science teacher. "For people who create great value but for only a narrow interest group, I think that the potential for pay channels unlocks opportunities for creating revenue streams," said Lucas Watson, YouTube's vice president of sales and marketing, at the time.

Introducing pay channels would also accustom fans of YouTube to paying for content, something the site is not known for, although it has sold and rented movies and TV shows from major studios since late 2008.

"It's a whole new skill set to develop: to convince people to actually take out their credit card, even for one cent," said Robert Kyncl, YouTube's vice president and global head of content partnerships, said at the March event.

Google bought YouTube for 1.76 billion dollars in 2006 when the video site had an estimated 50 million users worldwide. Today, the site boasts more than 1 billion visitors a month.

Source

What do you think about them doing this?

 

[Evil Eye]

That would be cool, I guess.

I don't really see myself paying to watch YouTube channels, but if they can make it worthwhile... Good business.

 

[JetWing34]

Does that mean Youtube will no longer offer free videos anymore?

Would that mean listening to music would cost about one to four dollars per view?

I might not like it, but I think Youtube should not be run by users. You MUST have a business to upload videos.

 

[DrLeftover]

The crap like funny cat and laughing baby videos will probably still be free.

Stuff worth watching will not be.

 

[JetWing34]

Well, I think people who work for businesses need to make money for Youtube.

For the people who may have free content, their videos are in jeopardy of being taken down by Youtube, either because they infringe copyrights or trademarks, or it violates terms and agreements since it contains content that is flagged by the community.

 

[Evil Eye]

Or they're becoming greedy?

I wouldn't really call this greed. They'd still offer lots of free stuff.

 

[wheezy]

I think it's a clever idea. I wonder if the average user would be able to turn their channel into a paid one. This will allow them to make money off their video content.

 

[Evil Eye]

All the advertising they have on YouTube itself pays for their bills and then some

I'm actually somewhat sceptical about that... it just doesn't seem profitable at all. Sure they have a huge amount of users, but they also need an enormous amount of bandwidth. It probably is profitable, just seems so unlikely

they just want more revenue like any other website / business giant, no?

Yeah, I guess that's somewhat greedy, but it seems perfectly natural and not particularly invasive.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I would hope that they just leave youtube the same, and their pay channels would have tv shows and movies like Netflix.

 

[ConfabIt]

I can't see myself paying to watch videos to be honest. I don't use Youtube enough as it is. xD