YouTube has been toying with the idea of paid subscriptions for a long while now. The result is YouTube Red, a paid subscription service to watch videos from your favorite content creators without ads and support for Background Play - videos will continue to play even if you switch to another app on your phone.
So what's the catch? You need to pony up $9.99 for the service, per month. Alongwith the no ads, background playback, you'll also get access to Google Play Music All Access with millions of songs to listen to. It works the other way round as well, if you are a Play Music subscriber, you'll get access to YouTube Red automatically, no need to pay twice.
Google has said that most content creators have already signed the deal to be a part of YouTube Red, although they had very little say in it. According to several reports, Google had given them only one option, either to join YouTube Red or see their videos disappear. Although this is very heavy-handed for the company, but their rationale is understandable.
The company says they want a consistent user experience on YouTube for both free and paid users. Therefore, subscribers of YouTube Red should not miss out on content just because the creators didn't want to join the subscription service. Naturally, there will be opposition when you are being forced, but the revenue model in the long run would be beneficial to creators as well.
YouTube Red will be going live starting October 28th in the US shedding its beta tag, another service dubbed YouTube Music will debut later. There will be a free one month trial for people who want to try the service. The free YouTube site and apps will remain as we know them today, this is just a new subscription model which you can choose to ignore, just like I would.
