For some time now, Google has been exploring the possibility of enabling a YouTube subscriptions system under which it plans to offer exclusive content, and also eliminate all advertising. Yesterday, that possibility became official under the name YouTube Red. The new “YouTube premium” will have a very limited launch next October 28, and covers all products of the service, including Gaming, Kids, and the new app YouTube Music.
There’s no longer any point in denying it: The “Netflix effect” has completely changed the way users consume streaming content, and every other service is doing everything it can to keep up. One of Netflix’s most powerful aspects is its exclusive content. High-caliber projects like House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black rewrote every rule along the way, offering conclusive proof that original series are critical to the success of today’s distributors. With that in mind, the Mountain View giant knows it has to respond in kind. YouTube’s success is unquestionable, but it essentially depends on third-party material funded by an increasingly shaky advertising model.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/YL9RetC0ookWhat does YouTube Red offer?
Google’s new initiative arrives under the name YouTube Red. Beyond its resemblance to the names of certain adult services (the Web has shown no mercy on this point), its goal is to deliver a superior experience with exclusive material developed “for YouTube”, ad-free, and with unlimited access to parallel features. What features are we talking about? First, mobile users will be able to download videos for local playback, plus support for background playback. Then there’s the trinity of apps Gaming, Kids, and Music, which have been around for a while but will now receive additional optimizations. From a technical standpoint, YouTube Music is a new app (derived from YouTube Music Key), and will focus on music exploration and discovery.
Pricing and launch details
YouTube Red will be compatible with almost every smartphone, tablet, and computer out there, but differences emerge in pricing: Access through Android, desktops, and mobile web will cost exactly $9.99 per month, but if someone decides to “buy” YouTube Red through the iOS App Store, they’ll pay $12.99 monthly. Why? Apple policies, no more, no less. The Cupertino giant keeps 30 percent, so Google’s solution was simply to pass the difference on to the final price. Of course, this is relatively easy to avoid, but the underlying doubts are far more important. How do you convince users to pay for a service that has been free until now? One point in its favor is the inclusion of access to Google Play Music, and by extension, more than 30 million songs. At the same time, how will revenue be split? YouTube declined to provide specific details, and apparently some details are rather murky… but that’s another story. YouTube Red will launch in a restricted form on October 28 in the United States.
