YouTube will soon be launching a subscription service that will allow users to turn off advertising, a report claims. Working as a separate offering to the current Music Key subscription, which removes ads from music videos and also includes access to Google Play Music All Access, the new subscription would apply to all videos on the YouTube service.
Head of content and business operations Robert Kyncl said that the company was “fine-tuning the experience” of the subscription, reports CNBC, and that it will be a “very important part of the business” due to some users not wanting to see advertising. It is suggested the subscription service could be released to users in the coming months.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has previously suggested there could be some form of subscription to remove pre-roll and other advertising forms from YouTube. Admitting in October last year that “there’s going to be a point where people don’t want to see the ads,” Wojcicki did indicate that consumers will “either choose ads, or pay a fee, which is an interesting model.”
In more recent times, Kyncl told the Code/Media conference that its three-month-old project Google Preferred will be rolling out to more markets this year. The scheme, which allows video producers to use advertising that cannot be skipped, has been declared as “quite successful,” raising revenues for participants by 70-percent instead of the usual 50 percent. More pro-advertising projects are also being worked on, which could force more users over to the subscription, if it gets launched.
