YouTube: This was bound to happen sooner or later...

That's interesting. Introducing paid channels that people have to pay to watch. Don't know how that'll go over. I have a TV and can't see paying to see YouTube videos, but maybe some people will.

This is the way of all online businesses for decades... Look around you Google, Facebook and now Youtube. Do we still believe that those are FREE SERVICES ?

I can see that working really well. On-demand TV is the way of the future and if some of the large channels see it as an opportunity to break away from traditional TV channel watching then I think it'll do well.

People will pay for a quality product and entertainment is no different. What I hear many saying is they hate having to pay for things they never watch.

The problem is all this content has been free up until now.

It's like trying to ban alcohol in a country where it has previously been permitted.

I don't see this taking off... but I may be wrong.

I think it will depend heavily on which content is being sold.

There's only really a couple of tv shows I watch, Top Gear and F1. I do however watch different things on youtube but if I have to pay for anything then I'll just find something else as there's plenty of choice for free to keep my little brain entertained.

I think that if they charge a very low one time fee then it will work out but to charge a monthly fee, a lot of people will not use them to watch videos and this will only mean that someone or some company will take advantage of this and create their own video sharing website that people can use for free.

There are some of them already up and running.

I hope that they don't get this approved. A lot of people will not be willing to pay for it.

People pay to watch NetFlix or whatever, why wouldn't they pay for premium Youtube content?

I see this working, but not working well.

If you look at most of the 'vloggers' and another popular category "gaming" most of the watchers there are pre-teen/early teen so charging for content is out of the question, since they have no means of paying unless they ask their parents.

Other popular categories like "How-To" section where there are a lot of fashion/make-up gurus, I can't really see people paying for that either, unless people enjoy watching others do make-up product reviews and watching people apply make-up and so on.

sooner or later it all becomes paid. I wonder how they keep the search still free

I am waiting for the new WSO

how to make a million dollars with youtube channel subscriptions

I am working on this now

hahahah

I think this is going to be worth testing out.

Does anyone know if the paid format will be open to everyone or just companies/partners of Youtube.

I could see add-ons for movies doing well in this format, i.e Missing scenes of a movie, bloopers

think of people like jenna marbles or whatever her name is, im sure if she charged $4.95 a month she would make tons of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

you could also make video training series and monetize it through youtube without having to get ppl to your site

I'm a pretty large Youtube fitness/nutrition/supplement marketer and I'm going to test out both $1 videos and $4.95 videos for full out programs.

Singers, bands, live concerts, etc might be big. There is a ton of free stuff but it takes forever to find anything of quality. Either the audio or video or both stinks.

Think Bieber, Swift etc... rabid fans by the 1000's would pay for premium footage, interviews etc especially if it can't be found anywhere else.

Youtube streaming = custom cable service?

pay for what you want, instead of being forced into a cable TV package. That could be google's next big thing.


But usually they go half-assed into projects that look promising. Google isn't hurting for cash yet.

This is simply a natural progression of the internet. Youtube uses more bandwith then the entire internet combined. They realize that if a few of the pay to view channels take off (which they will) Youtube gets a cut which will go a long way to making them profitable.

LOL is that means we no longer able to watch YouTube until we pay?

At least it would start off at $1 - $5 a month. That's nothing. I don't know if they'll bump it up but I'll certainly pay for it. I love YouTube!

This is an optional service YouTube is offering individual channel operators, so they can get paid for more creativity - like some of the million subscriber channels that Maker Studios and Machinima manage/own etc.

It's not a sky is falling moment where YouTube tries to steal our lunch money to watch narcissistic pre-teen rappers or overweight dogs barking 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas'.

But rumor has it we will be charged $5/minute to watch really really bad text to speech plr crap mass produced by Internet Marketers. :rolleyes:

I honestly think this won't go so well for most channels.

But it does seems like something useful for channels that make quality how to videos.

I'm very interested in seeing how users react, once it has been applied.

I'm cool with it. I don't see what the problem is. Youtube IS a business so they will do what is neccessary to maixmize their profits.

It really is good for entrepreneurs, and bad for just the viewers. a typical viewer would really say it as a bad news because its not free anymore, but nevertheless, those working in IM would love it cause it could mean more income

I always expected them to do this eventually.
When you think of the thousands of videos that are uploaded every hour it would be very difficult for them to provide the bandwidth for free forever. I'm sure it will only be highly specialized content that will be paid for.

this will only benefit big film producing companies...I doubt youtube will get up to 30% of their traffic..

As I said in my OP this development could be good news for some, not so good news for others.

This is the "good news for some" part. If you have a large following, your seminar or coaching session could be streamed live over YouTube for one price, and available for online viewing for another. Forget graphics-based webinars, Skype conference calls or selling a physical CD/DVD based product afterwards. You could charge big bucks for this. You would need to have a large following to make this viable, but there are many marketing "gurus" (some of them on this forum) for whom this would not be a problem.

I also agree with Yukon's comments above (#42).

I'm sure you're not alone! You laugh, but there's bound to be one.

This is the "not so good news for others" part. We all know what "Big G" is like when it comes to wringing every last penny out of customers. My biggest fear is that YouTube will go the way of Spotify, with limits to the number of times you can view a video without taking out a paid subscription, and lots more intrusive advertising. I've noticed recently that the number of videos with commercials beforehand has been growing, and you can't always skip them after five seconds either!

I think a lot of these types of services are going to a "freemium" model (for instance, google plus local also looks like it will head this way)

It def was bound to happen. Other than their paid advertising, you know that G was gonna try to make some more money eventually, They don't have quite enough yet.

I wonder if they'll offer an affiliate API. We'd love to build those paid subs into our CMS...

It'll work the same way as digital tv with monthly subscription worked.

First step is to offer more quality channels. Then they'll cancel out the channels that get most views, best quality etc...Eventually only the garbage will be free and everybody will be paying monthly to access youtube. You'll see it happen step by step...

And the worst about it is, everybody will be complaining, and everybody will be paying
Ohh mind control and propaganda, it's so fascinating!

I quite like this idea, a lot of smart TV's now come with youtube built in, this could most definitely be a medium for all areas of film/tv show production will get into. If it helps me get tv shows, sports etc... easier, I am all for it. Definitely could be a game changer for pubs and clubs in the UK at least, no more foreign abroad football, all depends if they will allow live streaming.

Yeah, I just read an article yesterday. Which with our lingo around here may have been titled: The Death of Cable Company Bundling

3 companies that could change the way we watch TV forever

Obviously this will work just as well as any membership site that feeds video content and it's success will depend on the quality of the content and channel promotion - just like everything else online.

If a seller has something worth teaching (or whatever) and he chooses to use YT subscriptions rather than his own website, I would have no problem buying in, would you?

Hello everyone,

I know there are start-ups trying to disrupt the traditional cable/satellite premium subscription channel packages. YouTube might be the key though - if there is quality content on specific YT channels that you pay a small monthly subscription for, more people might be willing to pay for those and ditch the rest (including their expensive cable/satellite premium subscription channel packages).

More and more people are using wireless adapters to stream or "transfer" their computer screens to their television screens. Additionally, you can plug most computers into televisions nowadays because they have HDMI connections, plus most TVs have PC modes, so this might be the viable way that people can finally get past the cable/subscription packages that those companies don't want to be giving up, especially if the companies realize that they can make money from such a set-up (from YouTube, and thus, the "subscribers" pay YouTube). Plus, the companies can have more banner advertising on their channels, giving them more opportunities to earn by people directly accessing their channels on YouTube. Plus, more TVs have Internet access as well, even talk of some of them becoming touchscreen too - Bigger is better with touchscreens and TVs at CES - Computerworld

Imagine if you want 5 channels at $1-$5/month - you're paying $5-$25/month for quality content you actually watch instead of paying $50-$100+ month, only watching up to 5 channels per month and never checking out the other 145-245 channels you have on your subscription.

Buyers certainly would go for that, and with enough monetization, the television networks themselves would be willing to break from traditional cable/satellite packages and offer them. It's just a question of whether cable/satellite subscribers would jump on board to be a "middleman" for that business model or if they would wait too long and television networks would do it themselves with YouTube and the buyer.

It will be interesting to see, but I can definitely see YouTube being a prominent television channel provider in the future. At a reasonable monthly price for each channel (and you getting to choose what channels YOU want), I think it may have more demand than some might think, especially with the way television is turning to the Internet.

Just my 2 cents.

Take care,

Joe Chengery

Thanks for the article! Might help me with my online show.

I'm very curious if this has anything to do with adblockers becoming so popular lately. I've never used them, but if they block ads on a video (I'm not even sure how they work) it would seem like youtube may be trying to compensate for lost revenue (just a thought).

Because technically speaking, you already pay to watch a lot of videos. Just with your time, not money.

I'm also curious how blackhatters will react to this. Whether they'll start paying for programs/videos just to steal them, and upload them for their own benefit.

Either way it will be interesting.

-Red

This is an inevitable, but good idea.

I see this helping BOTH the consumers and the show producers

1. Helps indie producers to make some immediate cash without having to suck up to the big tv networks
2. Helps the tv networks to decide on the profitability of a show before picking it up. Lots of shows are picked up and produced, only to be abandoned after 4-5 episodes due to bad ratings
3. For shows that have rabid but small followings, it allows them to extend their lives on Youtube Premium TV
4. Additional revenue stream for tv shows

For the fans
1. It means that fans who like shows that simply don't have the following to make it on the big tv networks (e.g. firefly, arrested development) are more likely to have them continued because of the easy access on Youtube Premium.
2. Gives another platform that people regularly interact with to watch their favorite shows.

The problems are really for the other on demand video producers - can't see this going down very well for Netflix, Redbox etc as it represents a major player on the market.