YouTube is the world’s number 1 video website and the most popular free technology platform and user generated site for hosting, sharing and marketing videos today. Did you know that 500 years of YouTube video a day is watched on Facebook alone
It’s a company that was built around people uploading personal video’s and a company that I frequently use. Imagine my horror when I read of YouTube’s plan to charge for using it’s service.
Yep you read it right. Pay for YouTube!?
The Google owned website seems set to go ahead with a new subscription service for its users starting possibly within the coming months.
My question: Why charge now after years of free service?
The answer: Money of course.
YouTube At The Moment:
At the moment, YouTube’s revenue is generated through advertising, which runs alongside videos. However, this alone is not enough. The thinking is that by offering a subscription service, not only would it generate further income, but would also create another platform to bring even more content to YouTube.
For ages you could watch anything from dodgy home videos, news, sport, Justin Bieber’s latest tantrum to trick performing dogs and everything in between.
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It has been moving gradually to add professional grade video programs to its massive bank of amateur home-shot videos that have made the site so popular.
Over the last few years there has been increasing interest from film and TV studios to produce YouTube content. The plan could see content providers such as TV companies making videos available for a monthly fee. This would offer competition to rivals like Netflix,who currently have around 30 million US subscribers and over a million UK and Ireland subscribers.
YouTube’s film rental service was launched in 2010, offering over 6000 films available to UK, US and Canadian users.
It also offers some live event streaming, such as some Indian Premier League cricket matches.
From its birth in 2005, YouTube has experienced rapid growth. In 2006 it received in the region of 20 million visitors per month. Compare that to more recent figures which show that the 1 billion mark has now been broken in the numbers of monthly visitors.
I guess times are constantly changing and in this highly competitive world companies have got to try and stay one foot ahead of their rivals.
YouTube’s Proposals Pros/Cons:
Pros:
- another way of generating income
- could push it to a more professional platform
- competition for rivals such as Netflix/Lovefilm
Cons
- big risk of alienating audiences
There have been mixed reactions to this proposal.
Personally, I feel that despite the uproar at first, YouTube would still become a renowned service and continued to be used for years to come.
Network science had yet another big part to play in all of this, firstly with YouTube at the moment only getting revenue through pre-video advertisements. This was not enough and therefore network science needed to act quickly. Perhaps introducing subscription packages could help YouTube’s hub to remain strong and thus continue to be used as frequently as it is now.
Something To Think About:
What do you think?
Would you be prepared to pay for YouTube?