Do you find YouTube ads so annoying that you'd be willing to pay a cost to play videos on the site commercial-free?
Well, YouTube is about to find out how true that might ring with its users. On Wednesday, YouTube introduced YouTube Red, an ad-free subscription video service for $9.99 per month. That means all the videos you normally watch on YouTube, but without any 15- to 30-second commercials before them. Those interested will be able to sign up soon, as the service launches next Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Even though Red is putting an axe to ads, YouTube believes its new service could actually boost the site's creator earnings without hurting the ad business.
"We believe in the advertising business. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the content on YouTube will be free, as it always has been," Robert Kyncl, YouTube's chief business officer, told The Verge. "So the world that all of our advertising partners are used to remains alive and well and [watch time] continues to grow at an astonishing 60 percent year over year. There is nothing we are taking away from there, merely adding onto it."
The YouTube Red service, which includes YouTube Music and a full subscription to Google Play Music, will also allow its members to save videos and music for offline viewing. Another nifty feature of the service is it will allow you to keep your videos playing while you use other apps or with your screen off.
The monthly subscription will also include commercial-free content for YouTube Gaming and YouTube Kids, other popular destinations within the site.
The only thing the service won't include is paid channels, movie rentals and pay-per-view purchases on the site.
It remains to be seen how an uninterrupted YouTube monthly service could bite into Spotify, Apple Music and other similar services.
