Dive Brief:
- YouTube—after hinting at the idea last fall—announced Wednesday that it plans to launch a paid, ad-free subscription service to its platform sometime this year.
- The $10 monthly subscription would allow an ad-free experience and the ability to save videos offline on mobile devices.
- Creators would also be able to put certain premium content behind the paywall.
Dive Insight:
A paid subscription service seems like a natural progression for YouTube, with so many rivals like Hulu and Netflix seeing success with the method. Not only would users benefit from the ad-free videos and other features, but publishers would have a new option to distinguish their premium content with a paywall.