If YouTube ads have you seeing red, you can now do something about it. A new experience, YouTube Red, will give users a “premium” experience that includes the removal of ads, offline access to content and the ability to play videos in the background on mobile devices. For access, users will need to hand over $9.99 a month and will also get some bonus benefits and content.
The biggest draw of YouTube Red is the ability to watch content ad-free. What does this mean for marketers and content creators? Well, not much unless YouTube Red takes off. If so, you may see ads integrated directly into content or specific placements that cannot be avoided.
For hardcore YouTube consumers, YouTube Red’s offline mode and ability to listen to videos while using other apps may be a bigger draw. With YouTube Red, users can simply save a video for future offline consumption and then view at a later point with no connectivity required.
Some of the bonus features are access to the new YouTube Gaming app and a new YouTube Music app (so far, it appears to be the non-beta version of YouTube Music Key). However, one of the more interesting benefits that YouTube Red users will receive is member-only access to YouTube Originals. This means that like Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go and Hulu Plus, YouTube is now in the content business. Access to these Originals will start next year and will include content from folks like PewDiePie, College Humor.
Seeing that the YouTube Originals won’t be available upon launch, the initial YouTube Red overall offering seems like a bit of a fragmented mishmash of future benefits, previous betas and some basic improvements. In the near future, the main appeal of the service is to going ad-free and making it easier for offline video consumption, but down the road (“early next year” according to YouTube), the Originals will likely incite more of the audience into subscriptions.
YouTube Red will be available for a one-month free trial on October 28 for US viewers. For more information, see the official YouTube post.
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