Earlier this week we told you YouTube was days away from launching a paid tier of their video service. Well friends, that day has arrived. YouTube Red is its name, and it will cost you $9.99/month. It launches in the U.S. on October 28th. What will that shiny 10-spot get you? Let’s find out.
No ads
The new service replaces Google Music Key and gives user a simple way to instantly watch or listen to YouTube video and Play Music content on-demand without ads. The Verge described it as “being on the highway without a speed limit.” Sure, but given most ads could be skipped in 5 seconds anyway, we’re skeptical.
Content Owners get Paid More
A big one for artists and producers. Currently YouTube is one of the lowest-paying “music” services on Earth. The new deal brought in all big music labels, television networks, and movie studio partners. The only one that hasn’t is Disney, but YouTube plans to forge ahead regardless, saying it has “98 percent of its content covered by agreements with rights holders.” This should be better for all rights holders.
YouTube Music app
Clearly looking to capitalize on the recent Apple Music model, today also saw the release of a standalone YouTube Music app. The app will be free for use (with ads) or ad-free as a YouTube Red member. Google promises the app will include a “personalized journey” through the YouTube music catalog—sounds like Pandora’s model to our ears. This is by far the most exciting part of the announcement, but also the part that requires YouTube Red the least, as it’s still usable for free.
Offline & Background Play
YouTube Red users will now be allowed to download content for offline use in various qualities (to manage storage). Their apps will now also support far more sophisticated background play, making the experience much closer to those of us currently enjoying the Chromecast ecosystem.
Originals
The big one. YouTube is positively throwing money at top content creators to produce content original to YouTube. Top creators will be given TV-like resources (PewDiePie is being paired with a Walking Dead producer, for instance) and encouraged to push out brand new properties for YouTube. Much of this content will be exclusive to Red subscribers.
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The biggest question is this: will people who have been using YouTube free for a decade be persuaded to pay each month for freedom from ads, better offline support, and original content? As hardly anyone is deterred from YouTube because of the ads, we suspect the definitive answer will come in the form of the new content. Is any of it enough to be YouTube’s “House of Cards?”
We’ve got two words: Dillon Francis.
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