Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
YouTube says as a result, content creators can expect to make as “much or more as they would have without YouTube Red” during the trial period. Subscribers also won’t see ads in two other separate YouTube apps, YouTube Music and YouTube Gaming.
After YouTube Red’s last uproar over a shared revenue deal, which numerous site’s partners felt “coerced” into signing, creators are now concerned as to whether they’ll be paid by the members-only service.
To mitigate the problem, YouTube, which has suffered noticeable backlash since announcing its Red service, said it will transfer a portion of its Google Play Music earnings to Red.
Concerns about subscribers getting a free ride over Red’s free trials echo the music industry’s outcry about the Apple Music earlier in the year. Combining both music streaming and video streaming in one subscription may appeal to a broad number of users, but because many rely on YouTube for free, it will not be a simple transition for the popular video website.
YouTubers receive a reported 45/55 cut of ad revenue built around their videos.
Because I spend a lot of time on airplanes where I appreciate any diversion that takes away the monotony of a long flight, I am intrigued by the ability to download videos to watch offline.
Meanwhile, YouTube has acquired exclusive rights to an initial slate of 10 original series and movies, including the “Scare PewDiePie” reality-adventure series with the YouTube video-game megastar and Rooster Teeth’s “Lazer Team” sci-fi action-comedy.
The reason? Even though YouTube Red’s monthly subscription fee is $9.99, the ad-free streaming service is offering a free month for all new subscribers-and because a lack of monetized ads means no ad revenue (which more or less served as a financial lifeblood for most creators), the fee is presumably their main source of income.
Ultimately, the challenge for YouTube Red is that the basic value proposition runs counter to what YouTube’s billion-plus users have always come back to the site for: free videos.
Google also promises to release a new YouTube Music app next year that will use algorithms to pick out music videos that include not just the original artists, but others who might record a song made famous by someone else. The major draw will be giving big budgets to a few of the site’s tip content creators, and hoping they can create something special. Plus, you get a Google Play Music as well, and vice versa, if you already have a subscription to the music streaming service.
