Isn’t it annoying to go to watch a video or song on YouTube to have to sit through a commercial? The streaming video service hopes you’re so annoyed by it that you’re willing to pay $9.99/month to not have to deal with it. YouTube Red launches next Wednesday (28), and it will allow users to view videos across the platform without advertisements. It’s more than just that though. You’l be allowed to save videos to watch offline and also be able to play videos in the background, which you can’t do on a mobile phone right now.
There’s also a standalone app, YouTube Music that’s launching. There will be a free ad-supported version of that, which will probably not be all that different than YouTube now. With the launch of YouTube Red, there will be eventual original content on the channel, including a “reality adventure series” from YouTube star PewDie Pie, launching in November. Because Google owns YouTube, if you subscribe to YouTube Red you’ll instantly have access to Google Play Music, and vice versa.
Starting October 28th, U.S. viewers will have a one-month free trial to YouTube Red. There’s no set launch date for YouTube Music. Will it be worth it? That remains to be seen. Many phone and computer users automatically go to YouTube to hear music without paying for it. Will they want to pony up 10 bucks every month to do so without commercials? Initially, we’d think probably not, but depending on the interface and ease of use, we could be eating our words in a year or two. Either way, given this and Apple Music’s subscription rate, the battle for streaming and where you view streaming content, is heating up quickly.
