YouTube Set to Introduce Paid Subscriptions
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Exodite
While this development seems both reasonable and overdue I'd prefer it to challenge the whole "channel" concept as well.
One of the most annoying aspects of traditional TV is that I'm not interested in 95% of the content offered on any specific channel, I want to pay for specific shows rather than whole channels.
Granted, with a distribution system like YouTube it's likely we'll see far more focused channels but even so...
lucidus
Isn't it a little late? The youtube brand is synonymous with free now.
Still, let's see how it goes. Not sure how they intend to secure it all knowing the nature of the internet.
WhiteLightning
Moderator
hopefully HD live football matches
Speed Weed
Does this mean that I'll have to pay to download the Hitler parodies?
There's nothing that that guy doesn't have an opinion on! 😉
StewieTech
I hate youtube.
naike
I guess it's ok if
1) they don't shove it down my throat
2) doesn't interfere with my normal youtube experience
3) only specific stuff would require a subscription, like a TV series or movie
If I even once would stumble upon a "you need a paid subscription to view this" I'd be pretty willing to consider alternatives to youtube...
Also, if they plan on charging money for channels with video quality on par with today's "top" youtubers... that's just lol, I'm expecting real quality stuff, content wise that is.
schmidtbag
Remember back in the day when there were no ads in the videos until google put them there? Seriously, all google needs to do is reduce uploads. It won't save enough money to remove ads but it ought to save enough to not have a paid subscription.
There is WAY too much useless crap out there (such as baby videos and vlogs). There's also way too many duplicates of videos. People don't tend to remove stuff so every little fruitless video posted is wasting space.
I feel like google should add a delete system where if a video is 75% disliked and has a certain ratio of views, it gets automatically deleted (or at least privatized).
fellix
Storage is cheap (though not infinite). It's the traffic that asks for the heavy bill. I've noticed that there's definitely a disparity between popular videos/channels and the rest of the content, in terms of buffering wait times.
schmidtbag
PCElite
BigBlockTowncar
fr33k
thus the downfall of youtube.
Redemption80
Hardly the downfall, streaming is the future unfortunately, this is just a little late.
Should of done this years ago when there was less competition in the VOD markets.
As per above, live HD sports would interest me, sports TV channels are expensive and tend to be filled with lots you never watch, something that catered to one sport could be ideal.
chilly willy
Year
no problem at all, if they don't start bombarding the non-subscription videos with ads every 2 seconds it's fine.
probably pr0n! 😀
Veeshush
They already have movies you can pay for, which hardly anyone buys. I suppose this is going to be more for bigger names like Fox or the like to try and reel in more money through uploading shows, as if there isn't enough family guy clips uploaded now. Which I wouldn't care about cause I wouldn't watch that stuff anyway. I suppose the Smosh/PewDiePie money whores might try to use it as well to increase their small fortunes, in which I hope it backfires them into the poorhouse when their subscribers don't have the money to throw at them. "hey guys watch me play this game you all have been wanting me to play in the PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS SUB BOX!"
Basically, it really doesn't affect me cause I won't be watching anything that wants a subscription fee.
schmidtbag
Veeshush
IPlayNaked
Streaming per channel, and even per show is the future guys, time to get used to it and accept it.
Right now, I can't watch shows like Game of Thrones because I have to subscribe to cable, then HBO, and then I'll watch it via HBO Go anyway.
Lets cut out the middle man, and the 150 channels I don't need nor care about, and let me pay for the two shows I do want to watch.
Doing this, offering pay-per-channel, gets a watcher like me watching where I can't now. And more and more people are opting to forgo cable in lieu of online streaming.
The people who I speak to in my office, only a handful of them still have cable subscriptions, and its only because they're held in by one or two shows.
Regardless of what the blind can't see, this is the future of watching literally everything. Will places like HBO switch immediately? Of course not. But once this, or a similar service, doesn't have to be youtube, catches on? And people drop their cable because they're entertained just as well, for cheaper online? Yeah, HBO and the like will scramble to get involved.
The Goose
not one add or banner on utube has made me think....yeah i need to buy that,so i say "Nuh uh..nuts to that"