As was rumored for some time, YouTube has started charging for content, with paid channels making their debut. The pilot scheme gives qualifying partners the opportunity to erect paywalls, but will viewers pay in the numbers needed to make this worthwhile?

Paid YouTube Channels

YouTube has rolled out its first paid content, with a pilot scheme which sees 50 channels offering subscriptions costing $0.99 per month. All offer a 14-day free trial, and there are discounts for longer subscriptions.

The pilot scheme includes channels as diverse as Jim Henson Family TV, UFC Select, and GayDirect. In the coming months YouTube is promising a wider rollout which will see partners able to set up their own paid offerings.

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For one week in May YouTube is going to (try to) be the funniest website on the planet. The Google-owned property already boasts a multitude of funny clips, but YouTube Comedy Week is something altogether more ambitious. This represents the changing face of YouTube; from a site where anything goes to one which brings together the best people in a particular genre, whether they’re famous or not.

YouTube Originals

YouTube is fighting hard to change its reputation from being an online destination full of short clips of random people (and pets) doing funny things, to something more professional, more serious, more like network television.

It’s a tough sell, but it has already managed to shake off its reputation as a place where piracy reigns supreme. And now it’s trying to straddle the line between longform and short-form, professional and user-generated.

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After many years of sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring how the world was changing around them, the big media companies are finally realizing the Internet is here to stay. As are the opportunities it provides to make money from old content repackaged in a shiny new box marked “Streaming.“

Warner Archive Instant

Warner Bros. is taking on the likes of Netflix and Amazon with Warner Archive Instant, which has now gone live. The site contains streaming video versions of classic movies and television shows that Warner claims are “rare or hard-to-find.“

Movies offered through the service include Mummy from 1959 and Cat People from 1982. TV shows currently offered include Gilligan’s Island and the original Adventures of Superman from the 1950s.

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After a lot of lobbying to get the law changed and an equal amount of political wrangling, Netflix has finally brought social sharing features to its streaming service in the U.S. But it’s far from perfect at this early stage of the game.

No Sharing Please, We’re American

In 1988 a law was passed which prevented the release of records pertaining to “prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual material.”

This was the Video Privacy Protection Act, which came about as a result of a newspaper disclosing the rental records of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. The problem is that the while this law was good for consumers in 1988, the world has changed since then.

The emergence of streaming services alongside social networks means that people are now willingly sharing their data in order to be part of the ecosystem. Hence when Netflix launched Facebook integration in 2011, it was switched on in every country other than the U.S.

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Netflix is busy producing its own content to augment the classic content already on the service. It’s this original programming that is causing network executives to have heart palpitations, and with good reason.

Netflix Content

Netflix has always offered some good content, with a mix of old and new shows and movies that collectively add up to enough for people to be happy to pay for the service. However, when it started producing its own exclusive content it changed the nature of television as we know it. Possibly forever.

Netflix’ move into producing original content has had positive effects on the shows in question…

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In this day and age, YouTube is potentially more influential than any other medium in turning a song from one which no one has ever heard into a hit of epic proportions. Thankfully the music industry has realized this unsavory (at least to them) fact.

Music Charts

Once upon a time the music charts were made up of one thing and one thing alone: How many physical copies of a song sold in record stores. Now, with the way people consume music, and other types of content for that matter, having changed, so has the methodology behind the charts.

Several years ago digital downloads were added to the mix, as the industry realized it was fighting a losing battle against people buying digital rather than physical copies. Then came streaming services such as Spotify, which now also contribute to the charts.

This week saw YouTube added to the burgeoning list of sources used to determine whether a song is a hit or not.

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YouTube has long been seen as a possible alternative to pay-TV offerings, with a mix of music videos, television shows, and movies providing the needs of viewers. To truly be an alternative to pay-TV, YouTube itself may start charging for access.

Original YouTube Channels

There has always been original content on YouTube. Once Google had (generally) rid the site of the copyright-infringing clips that were its lifeblood in the early days, videos created by real people like you and I became the mainstream fare.

In 2011 YouTube sought to up the quality of its original content, giving producers a budget in order to create content for 100 premium channels. That process is continuing, with YouTube adding many more channels to the line-up at the end of last year.

The next logical step would be to start charging people to watch these premium channels. Which is exactly what looks set to happen.

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