YouTube Red

[Gwazi Magnum]

For those not in the know.

(Skip to 2:29 for the relevant bit)

So basically I'm wondering what people's thoughts about this are.
Like, I'd check the YouTube comments but...

Yea, no.

I'll put my opinion in a spoiler below. So if you want your initial opinion to not be tampered by others? Don't open it till after (hence why I'm making mine in the OP this time around, to avoid the same thing).

Opinion

Honestly I see this being very similar to paid mods for Skyrim. Both from a public reaction standpoint and a potential for growth standpoint.

To start with, there seems to be a number of people crying out about this being unfair, some form of theft, betrayal to the fan base etc. Which honestly I think is rooting from the fact that people were so used to all of this being free that now being expected to pay for it is basically acting as some sort of cultural shock. Even if what they pay for is going to be brand new content, and not replacing the old content.

And to YouTube's credit they did bother building this up first, rather than simply dropping it all the sudden like with the Skyrim Mods. Thus given people time to adapt to it, understand it etc. But not to their credit is making it American only... Really guys? You're a global website but you're going to give special treatment to certain geographic's?

Then there's the potential. Now, unlike Modders YouTubers were already making a good living. But it was still just that, a living. And a living with glaring vulnerabilities too. They could eat with it, but that's pretty much it. With this though? They can get the funding to get full blown professional level projects going, get us some well funded content back with the creativity of the YouTube community. That's something I think will need to take some time to build up, but that kind of stuff tends to take time and a solid framework.

*Though really RoosterTeeth? Over 2 million raised for you by your fans and you put behind a pay wall? I think that one could have just been released normally considering the fact.

 

[Dervish]

Way I look at it, if a site that has provided free entertainment suddenly has channels opt to go behind a pay wall, I just won't watch those channels. Nothing is too important to me that I'm going to cough up a fee to watch a series of videos. Vote with your wallets, folks.

 

[Minibit]

Canadian here.

If red subscribers can save/download content to their devices then filesharing is a snap. I'll just pirate the originals that I want.

I totally get why they're doing this and I agree that people are reacting to youtubers who participate as if they have a right to get free content from them, which is dumb.

For a lot of young people, they don't watch TV as much as they watch YouTube. YouTube is now capitalizing on that in a bigger way. It's natural progression.

 

[Shiri]

It doesn't sound all that different to crunchyroll's free vs premium services so I don't get what the negativity is about. Maybe I'm bias because I don't feel compelled by any of the content they listed.

With a little more money in the picture maybe we can hope they replace the automated support system. I couldn't keep a straight face writing that. xD

 

[Jorick]

It's not a big deal, totally understandable for Youtube to try to give content creators a more reliable way to make money. A lot of them are doing the Youtube thing as their sole source of income, and the volatility of ad-based monetization is uncomfortable at best.

However, I have a feeling that it's going to crash and burn similarly to the last paywall scheme they tried. Remember Youtube's paid channels thing? Yeah, that didn't work out so well. Go check that link and see the low subscriber counts, such that most paid channels don't even have a subscriber count visible. Not only are people averse to paying for something they've gotten used to being free, but there will be people who go and grab that paid content to mirror as free videos on Youtube and elsewhere, so internet savvy folks who want to watch the Youtube Red content will very likely seek it out elsewhere for free. This thing where only certain videos are stuck behind a paywall and a subscription gets you access to all of them is a far smarter implementation than the paid channels, but I just don't see it working out all that well for the vast majority of channels.

 

[Grothnor]

Stupid idea that it is notwithstanding and purely from a content to price tag ratio, YouTube Red doesn't appear to be worth it. You're paying $10 a month for, what, a dozen shows and movies? Netflix and Hulu charge the same amount (or less, idk), but offer MUCH more content. They've said they're gonna expand their roster, but right now, it seems like a pretty bad deal.

 

[Mu]

I personally don't really care about it, the ones I have seen remind me of television shows and stuff like that and with a large crew working behind it of course it's going to cost money. I just remember seeing PDP's show on his channel and he released episode 5 or something for free so that people that were interested would buy the rest of the series and the entire comments section is littered with complaints about how 'Pewdiepie was a free channel and now he expects us to pay wtf"

I mean?????? It's not like he's stopped producing free content and the crew members that filmed it and the actors need to be paid for this sort of stuff isn't that common sense I don't even understand people these days.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

It doesn't sound all that different to crunchyroll's free vs premium services

Eh... Not quite.

Crunchyroll gives paying members the ability to view content a week early. But after that week everyone has access to it.
YouTube Red is putting videos behind a paywall period.

 

[Shiri]

Eh... Not quite.

Crunchyroll gives paying members the ability to view content a week early. But after that week everyone has access to it.
YouTube Red is putting videos behind a paywall period.

Mostly true, but there are a few previously released titles that you need to get premium in order to view in full, and the manga section is pretty scant for free users. Its still a paywall, just a softer and cheaper one. YouTube Red appears to have the ability to put up at least one free episode if pewdiepie is any indication, so they are at least interested in showing an episode or two for free.

But that's just nitpicky stuff at this point. It just comes down to what content people are willing to pay for. Though Lazer Team is trying to tempt me toward that free trial. Haha.