YouTube RED: The Next Step in YouTube’s Evolution
For the past decade, YouTube has been a free pioneer in online media and video consumption. As the world’s leading music platform (R.I.P. MTV), YouTube has also unlocked new forms of incredibly profitable entertainment, including trends like watching people play video games and unboxing videos.
Operated by Google and supported by advertisers, YouTube has become a global sensation. However, despite its immense success, it has struggled to turn a significant profit and has only managed to break even.
Enter YouTube RED
This is where YouTube RED comes into play.
Timeline of Events Leading to YouTube RED
- YouTube’s Free Model: Since its inception, YouTube has operated as a free platform, allowing users to watch, create, and share videos. Despite its enormous user base, YouTube’s ad-based revenue model has been insufficient in driving significant profit.
- The Limitations of Ad Revenue: While ads have been a primary revenue source, the model hasn’t been enough to scale YouTube’s profitability. With increasing user demand for ad-free experiences, YouTube began to explore a subscription service to meet this need.
- The Launch of YouTube Music Key: YouTube’s previous attempt to offer a subscription-based service, Music Key, provided an ad-free experience for music content. Though it wasn’t a major success, it paved the way for YouTube RED.
- YouTube RED’s Arrival: As YouTube’s ad revenue growth plateaued, the company recognized the need for a new revenue model. YouTube RED will offer a premium experience with ad-free content, offline access, and exclusive features.
What YouTube RED Means for the Future
YouTube RED represents a significant shift in YouTube’s business strategy. By offering a subscription model, YouTube is looking to diversify its revenue streams, enhance user experience, and provide creators with more consistent income. This move could reshape how YouTube operates in the future, offering new opportunities for both users and creators alike.
Learn more about YouTube RED: Visit the official YouTube Creators Blog
From Then to RED
YouTube’s Steps Toward Profitability: Adapting to the Changing Market
Google began making the steps to making YouTube more profitable on May 9th, starting with paid channel subscriptions as well as paid videos. This idea didn’t seem to catch on that much, but it is still in effect today, and you can even see it with certain movie releases like The Interview. This was a step clearly made in response to subscription video services like Netflix and Hulu.
YouTube Music Key: Competing with Subscription Music Services
Google’s next response was to provide subscription music services like Spotify, launching their YouTube Music Key service on November 17th, 2014. Music Key is a paid subscription YouTube service that allows you to download videos for offline playback and listen to videos in the background on mobile devices. It’s also virtually the same service as Google Play Music All Access which allows free downloads and streaming from the Google Music library.
Essentially, this service combines the main benefit of Spotify with the extra utility of YouTube, which prior to the emergence of players like Pandora and Spotify was the uncontested champ of streaming music online.
Fan Funding: Google’s Move to Monetize Creator-Audience Transactions
In addition to becoming YouTube Partners or finding external sponsors and partnerships, online content creators have increasingly been using places like Patreon and PayPal in order to fund their free content creation.
Having the keen eye they do, Google noticed that money was being exchanged between the creators and audience without them getting any kind of cut, so they began rolling out Fan Funding in September of 2014. They take a small cut from donations and give paying fans the ability to send a message with their donations as well as a little badge beside their comments.
YouTube’s Need to Evolve
YouTube may seem like it’s in a comfortable position right now, but it isn’t the Internet’s early days anymore. If they don’t change with the times, they may well be left behind by other services – Google’s moves since 2013 have demonstrated a clear knowledge of this possibility, one they seem to be trying to avoid.
What does this mean for you, the user? Great question, and it could mean quite a lot. Let’s talk about that.
What It Means to You
YouTube RED: Navigating Adblock and Supporting Content Creators
Adblocking is a hot topic here on Make Tech Easier (MTE), and for good reason. My most popular article focuses on an APB alternative, which resonates with the audience because advertising on the Internet can be intrusive and detrimental to the overall user experience. Not only do ads drain hardware resources and consume Internet bandwidth, but they are also a frequent source of malware—even from companies partnered with Google. This makes ads a potential threat to privacy and security.
Many users, myself included, use adblockers but allowlist websites they regularly visit to support content creators. However, YouTube’s video ads are particularly egregious, and it’s not possible to disable them on a per-channel basis. So, how can you support YouTube content creators without enduring the ads?
Supporting Creators Without Ads
Most people turn to donations or Patreon to support creators. Some YouTube content creators skip pre-roll video ads and incorporate sponsor messages directly into their videos. These options are great, but they often don’t eliminate the annoyance of ads entirely.
If you’re not interested in disabling your adblocker or paying money, YouTube RED might not offer much benefit. According to Google’s official email, YouTube will continue to offer free content to both paying and non-paying users, with YouTube RED’s primary benefit being the removal of pre-roll video ads. From a “support-the-creators” perspective, platforms like Patreon and Fan Funding are better, as they let you directly fund creators with minimal interference from third parties.
YouTube RED: More Than Just Ad-Free Content
However, YouTube RED is likely to be combined with YouTube’s Music Key, which is already part of Google Play Music All Access. For a $10 monthly fee, YouTube RED will offer a comprehensive suite of features:
- No Advertisements on YouTube: Enjoy an ad-free viewing experience across the platform.
- Offline and Background Viewing: Download videos for offline viewing, and play them in the background on mobile devices.
- Access to Google Play Music: Unlimited access to Google Play Music’s extensive library, which includes the biggest names in the music industry (though it might not cover your most obscure indie favorites).
- Music Features: The ability to download and play music offline, stream it in high quality, and listen from any device.
YouTube RED: A Complete Entertainment Package
With YouTube RED, you get most of the best features of Spotify, but combined with an upgraded YouTube experience, albeit a paid version. Google’s ongoing push to integrate premium features across its services indicates that YouTube RED is a part of their broader strategy to turn YouTube into a truly profitable platform—one capable of competing with giants like Netflix and Spotify in their respective markets. All the while, Google is working to cater to the vast array of content creators that drive YouTube’s success.
The Bigger Picture: Google’s Plan to Monetize YouTube
Google clearly has a plan to monetize YouTube, and YouTube RED could be the most significant step toward achieving that goal. By offering a comprehensive service with ad-free content, offline viewing, and access to Google’s entire music library, YouTube RED could position YouTube as a major player in the subscription-based content market.What do you think, though? Sound off in the comments below and give your opinions.