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Report: A major change in YouTube is about to arrive, with paywall in-tow
June 04, 2025
The Verge is reporting that multiple sources have revealed Google is going to be fundamentally altering the way that content is presented on YouTube. One is a formal roll-out ofMusic Key, a subscription-based service that entered beta testing last year, and a second service that pertains to “premium content creators.” As The Verge puts it, “taken together, YouTube will be a mix of free, ad-supported content and premium videos that sit behind a paywall.” and quotes an unnamed music industry source as describing it as “strange on top of strange.”
There seems to be a bit of mixed sentiment with respect to Music Key, as some appear worried that Google’s lack of pushing Google Play Music will be carried over to YouTube, and thus recording artists and the corporations that represent them may very well end up getting less than they bargained for.
In examining the other service, The Verge notes that “the unnamed subscription service is aimed at YouTube’s most popular creators and their audiences, and will offer ad-free videos and the ability to save videos offline, as well as access to premium content behind a paywall” with the rather ominous follow-up that “if all goes well, there may be more category-specific subscription services on the platform…[such as] subscriptions targeted at children’s programming or gamers in the future.”
The road paved with good intentions
Personally, I have grown quite tired of the endless, relentless multitude of advertising thatgracesthe likes of videos I watch, many of which aren’t even “premium content” at that. While I can deal withsomepre-advertising nonsense, the ones that don’t allow you to skip and last 20+ seconds truly grate after the third or forth one in a single sitting.
Profit picture
While the advertising element and now potential paywall may seem as an affront to the free model YouTube has employed for years now, it’s important to consider that it’snot actually making a profit. According to a story fromThe Wall Street Journalearlier this year:
Suffice to say, running an operation like YouTube is hardly a low-cost proposition. The sheer costs related to infrastructure such as servers, bandwidth, maintenance, and salaries comes into play. So too, does the actual money Google has to pay out to the content creators themselves; some are earningmillions upon millions. And just think of what kind of bandwidth is needed should several dozen million people be watching any givenPsy videosimultaneously. Then of course, there is the whole matter of Google itselfwantingto make a profit.
As the above graphic indicates however, 2015 has seen a small decrease in YouTube streaming, whereas Facebook has garnished quite a boost. (Note however this graph specifically mentions desktop viewing experiences however).
On the fence or taking up offense?
Suffice to say that these changes are set to introduce some major polarization into the way YouTube works and the way that users and viewers, in turn, useit. While Google clearly has the most ubiquitous video viewing site on the internetnow, there is always an opportunity for someone to come and steal its thunder.
Personally, I would be more than willing to pay a flat fee (as much as $9.99 per month) for the sole ability to watchallcontent absolutely free of the relentless advertising onslaught that accompanies it. Perhaps I’m in the minority here, but having lived through the transitional period of the early days of commercial internet in 1993 to that what exists now, I’d certainly part with a pay-off if it meant being able to enjoy things as they once were so long ago.
What do you think? Is the potential for a payment-based YouTube a great idea? Do you think it is a sign of what Google has become? Will it spur an upstart rival to possibly dethrone it? Leave us your comments below!
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