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"YouTube Red" Offers Premium YouTube For $9.99 a Month, $12.99 For iOS Users (arstechnica.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the pay-for-uninterrupted-play dept.

An anonymous reader writes: YouTube is launching a subscription plan in the U.S. called Red that combines ad-free videos, new original series and movies. The official blog post reads in part: "On October 28, we’re giving fans exactly what they want. Introducing YouTube Red -- a new membership designed to provide you with the ultimate YouTube experience. YouTube Red lets you enjoy videos across all of YouTube without ads, while also letting you save videos to watch offline on your phone or tablet and play videos in the background, all for $9.99 a month. Your membership extends across devices and anywhere you sign into YouTube, including our recently launched Gaming app and a brand new YouTube Music app we’re announcing today that will be available soon."

13 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Fragmentation by tripleevenfall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With all the streaming services out there, it seems like the chance of getting any single service that is of very high quality will go down. Will we continue to see content split between many vendors with no place to get everything you want in one spot? Or worse, will we start to see these streaming services start trying to sign more and more exclusivity agreements for content to wall it off for people who use other services?

    IMO, the idea of another service offering streaming movies and "new original content" is not an appetizing one. It's another subscription they are asking you to maintain, and how many are cost-cutting cord-cutters supposed to maintain at once?

    1. Re:Fragmentation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You cut the cord because you wanted a la carte pricing. Wish granted. Now you get to sleep in the wet spot.

    2. Re:Fragmentation by sims+2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Huh? assuming one person.
      netflix $7.99/mo
      amazon $8.25/mo
      youtube $9.99/mo
      crunchyroll $6.95/mo

      That brings me to $33.18/mo
      Still cheaper than basic cable.
      And I can watch what I want when I want AD FREE.

      Basic cable with 17 channels 11 of which are broadcast stations. Analog only.
      $35/mo

      --
      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    3. Re:Fragmentation by Harlequin80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not the cost I have the issue with. It is the 100 different interfaces. It's the "is this on Netflix? Hulu? HBO? Damn I can't remember."

    4. Re:Fragmentation by zlives · · Score: 3, Insightful

      right.... because its not working out the way you thought it would!!

  2. $9.99?! by N1AK · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have no issue with Google trying to launch a premium video service but I'm really surprised by the price point. When Netflix is $8.99 (I think in the US) and Amazon bundles its service with prime for $99 I can't imagine Google is going to be providing a service that is worth notably more than either of these quickly.

    1. Re:$9.99?! by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apples and oranges. Not all videos are created equal. Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu have full TV shows (entire series) and movies. Youtube has a bunch of user content I mostly don't give a crap about.

      I currently subscribe to three different streaming services (in lieu of cable), so I'm not averse to paying for content. It just feels like they'll need an awful lot of premium content to catch up to the other services for that price point.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  3. HBO started like this by turkeydance · · Score: 5, Insightful

    pay us...no ads...well, until we change our minds.

    1. Re:HBO started like this by Smidge204 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm old enough to remember the entire premise of "Cable TV" was that you paid a monthly subscription to get ad-free television.

      =Smidge=

  4. Anywhere you sign into YouTube? by laie_techie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Your membership extends across devices and anywhere you sign into YouTube

    If that's the case, why do they charge more if you use iOS devices?

  5. Re:Ten Ways To Make a GREAT YouTube Video! by Spy+Handler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You didn't mention the biggest one: hold the phone vertically while filming so the viewers sees a vertical video with lots of empty space to the left and right. This is a must.

  6. Google's 30% is less encompassing than Apple's by Phil+Urich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Alas, Google takes the exact same 30% on apps and IAPs.

    Well, that's kindof true; note the exact wording though, "applications and in-app products that you sell on Google Play". If an app uses a non-Google Play mechanism for in-app purchases, it doesn't apply, and unlike Apple they don't (last time I checked) have a policy for their app store against publishing apps that offer non-"official" methods of IAP. Apple does have such a policy, though, so app developers can't opt out of the 30% overhead.

    This is why the Android Kindle app allows purchasing directly within the app, but on iOS you have to use the web browser to buy books. Amazon isn't willing to pay a 30% overhead, and on Android they can choose to forgo the provided APIs and use their own infrastructure for purchasing within apps, but they can't on iOS.

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    I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
  7. Re: Ten Ways To Make a GREAT YouTube Video! by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I tried rotating the monitor, but then the picture was on its side.