Well, well! I am not suprised, According to this article YouTube announced to Financial Times that it was “looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer”. Hm I love how everytime any social media site mentiones of their members to start paying for somethig, according to them it is all done for “our benefit”. YouTube was always humbling, because it was free. You can search for anything and enjoy limitless time throughout your day. They are saying that ” the subscription-only videos will include up to 50 YouTube channels”. For now it will be “only” 50 YouTube channels, in the blink of an eye it will broaden to a 1000 and before we know it the whole YouTube community will be functioning through paid subscriptions. Am I overdramatizing this situation? I personally don’t think so, but would love to hear your opinions.
Well wow this was definitely not something I was expecting, honestly it’s like they’re trying to get every penny people have. It’s interesting because I know I personally have spent hours upon hours watching everything from funny cat videos to best NHL fights (don’t judge me, I’m a huge Hockey fan LGR!) this is even really irritating because it is the one place people go to to listen to a song they want or even get help with homework for free, that is what has been so magical about youtube, people can post videos of them singing in their living rooms one minute and be on tv the next. Reading this article and your post honestly is upsetting, hopefully someone else can come up with a different scheme for a similar concept for FREE!
I remember when YouTube first came out, it was the most fascinating thing: very simple, no ads and no 3 minute commercials before “you can watch your video”. It has been evolving a lot throughout the years and yes, while it does seem upsetting that they want to charge users, it feels kind of inevitable and an almost natural next step. Right now, YouTube generates profits through advertisements and people who host their own channels receive tiny amounts of money for each time somebody clicks on their video (the amounts are as small as 1 penny per viewer). I know Facebook now has a service where you can pay to promote your status to the top of your friends’ newsfeeds. The other social networks are probably going to take similar paths to increase revenue.
There could be a positive side to youtube channel subscriptions. For example lets say someone watches only NBA basketball games, NHL hockey matches and follows the Survivor TV show. If you want to watch these 3 things on tv you most likely need a whole cable/satellite package-subscription, where you are paying for many more channels than you watch, therefore not getting your monies worth.. With you tube subscription maybe we can finally only pay for what we prefer.