YouTube is reportedly set to launch a pay-walled subscription service later this week.
According to the Financial Times, the online video site, which is owned by Google, will charge users a single-channel subscription fee of around £1.28 a month, with as many as 50 YouTube channels available.
The subscription service will offer a new outlet of revenue for YouTube and will enable the channel’s operators to produce richer content, such as TV shows, films and live streams, a source familiar with the project told the newspaper.
However, YouTube are remaining tight-lipped on the project, telling the Financial Times that they had “nothing to announce”. A spokesperson added: “[We are]looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer.”
It is understood that the subscription service may remove adverts that currently play before videos on the site. In October 2012, YouTube launched 60 global channel partners including the WWE, Channel 4, Howcast and The Onion. It is not yet known if these partners have signed up for the subscription paywall.
