YouTube Introduces YouTube Red, a Subscription Service

8 years, 6 months ago - October 22, 2015

The YouTube star Joey Graceffa speaking on Wednesday in Los Angeles at the introduction ...

YouTube finally unveiled its ad-free subscription video service on Tuesday: It's called 'YouTube Red.'

YouTube Red costs $9.99 per month for desktop, Android, and $12.99 per month on iOS, and will also be available offline with a handy "save" feature. Eventually, YouTube plans to launch exclusive content on YouTube Red that you wont' be able to see on the traditional YouTube site.

The push for original content includes new original shows with popular YouTube stars including PewDiePie, Joey Graceffa, Toby Turner, and MatPat, among others. The original YouTube Red shows and movies will debut "early next year."

The subscription service will launch on October 28th, and you'll be able to try it for free thanks to the 30-day free trial.

YouTube's move to offer paid content comes as the world's largest video website faces competition from streaming video service Netflix, which has garnered 69 million paying customers thanks to a number of popular original video series, and from social network Facebook, which is making a big push to promote videos inside its newsfeed.

Sharing the revenue

YouTube is paying its video partners the "vast, vast majority of revenue to our partners," Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl said, speaking to reporters from a livestream in LA.

He noted that the revenue will be pooled together and paid to content creators based on their amount of "watch time."

PewDiePie's new series will be called "ScarePewDiePie," and YouTube describes the show as "a reality-adventure series from the creator and executive producers of The Walking Dead" where viewers can "experience thrills, chills and laughter as PewDiePie encounters terrifying situations inspired by his favorite video games."

A YouTube Red membership is also good across Gmail, YouTube's Music app, and YouTube's Twitch competitor, YouTube Gaming, ensuring that you'll receive the same ad-free experience across all platforms.

Here's a look at the YouTube Red app.

YouTube Red will launch first in the US, with plans to launch in other major markets "over the course of the next year."

Text by Business Insider

We also recommend

Google removes ‘view image’ button from search results to make pics harder to steal

Google is making a change to image search today that sounds small but will have a big impact: it’s removing the “view image” button that appeared when you clicked on a picture, which allowed you to open the image alone.

6 years, 2 months ago

Google launches its AI-powered jobs search engine

Looking for a new job is getting easier. Google today launched a new jobs search feature right on its search result pages that lets you search for jobs across virtually all of the major online job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder and Facebook and others. Google will also include job listings its finds on a company’s homepage.

6 years, 10 months ago

YouTube announces four new steps that it’s taking to combat extremist content

In recent months, social media platforms have been under under pressure to do more when it comes to hosting content that promotes violent extremism and terrorist propaganda. In an op-ed published today in the Financial Times, YouTube has outlined four new steps that it’s taking to confront extremist activity on its platform.

6 years, 10 months ago

Google Updates Ads Policies Again, Ramps Up AI to Curtail YouTube Crisis

Business Chief Schindler says Google has flagged five times as many videos as too offensive for ads in recent weeks.

7 years ago

Google calls out fact-check articles in its News section

A new Fact Check tag takes its place amid stories on Google News along with earlier tags such as Opinion, In-Depth and Highly Cited.

7 years, 6 months ago

A 'Made by Google' pop-up store is coming to New York

With a slew of new hardware, Google is finally aiming for scale. The new Pixel phones, the smart Home speaker -- these aren't Nexus-level side projects.