Google ready to launch paid Youtube channels: report
Announcement could come as early as this week
FILE – In this Oct. 15, 2010 file photo, an attendee uses a mouse over a Google mousepad at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany. Beginning Thursday, March 1, 2012, Google will operate under a streamlined privacy policy that enables the Internetâs most powerful company to dig even deeper into the lives of its more than 1 billion users. (AP Phioto/dapd, Torsten Silz, File)
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Google is getting set to unveil its first series of paid-content Youtube channels, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Sources tell the Financial Times that the announcement will come as early as this week and that it will apply to as many as 50 channels. Subscriptions can cost as little as $1.99 per month, says the source.
A spokesperson for Youtube tells the Times that they have “nothing to announce,” but says that the company is looking into a subscription-based platform.
The report comes as Youtube continues to to add more professionally produced content, moving away from its roots as a hub to post and share user-generated content. The rumours of a subscription-based channel have been around for some time and, in January, AdAge reported that Youtube had asked a small number of channels to apply to be the first paid-content providers. That report said that subscriptions would cost between $1 and $5 per month.
Mashable also points to a piece of code included in a February Youtube app update that would allow users to subscribe and unsubscribe to paid channels.