Google Wants Video Money
February 10, 2013
While this is kind of surprising, it also is not: “YouTube Set To Introduce Paid Subscriptions This Spring” comes from Adage. Rumors have been flying for years about users having to start paying for their Web content and it may happen with YouTube. This spring Google wants to make a little more cash from its video sharing service with paid subscriptions. Google is also trying to hook content producers, users’ attention spans, and advertisers away from the television. TV wars anyone?
YouTube has already asked some of its channel producers to create new channels where users paid a small monthly fee for access. The fee will range from $1-5 and it will not just be for a Web series, but also content libraries and live events.
“YouTube has been talking about the possibility of paid subscriptions for some time now. A year ago, at AllThingsD media conference, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar talked on stage about the potential to poach second- or third-tier cable networks that were having trouble building big enough audiences on cable TV to command subscription fees from distributors. Internet distribution, the thinking goes, would give some of these networks a more direct line to their passionate base with lower costs.”
Right now, Google and YouTube are treating this like experiment. The profits will be split 45-55, similar to how ads are already set up. Users do want different content and are willing to pay for it. But is it cheaper to pay a flat cable/dish fee for television, than individual channels on the Internet? The small data fees add up, trust me.
Whitney Grace, February 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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