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Digital
Uptake for YouTube subscription channels slow, says Variety
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 22 July 2013
Uptake for YouTube’s subscription channels has been modest, according to Variety, which has spoken to various media firms which are part of the Google-owned video platform’s experiment in moving its service from exclusively ad-funded to partly pay-per-view.
As previously reported, 53 subscription channels went live on the YouTube platform in May, just over 30 being accessible in the UK. Mostly run by established media firms, the subscription channels are part of a pilot. Google hopes to make the option of charging for access to content available to all partners in due course.
While those participating in the pilot are not allowed to reveal actual sign-up numbers, National Geographic, which launched a paid kids channel on YouTube, told Variety “we had hoped to set the world on fire – we are not setting the world on fire right now”. Meanwhile AXS TV, AEG’s media venture with businessman Mark Cuban, said its subscription YouTube channel, which offers all sorts of blokey content, is “working OK, not amazing”.
Cynics will see those assessments as proof that it’s going to be very hard indeed for the media and entertainment industries to persuade web-users to start paying for the kind of online content they have come to expect for free, an expectation in part instilled on us all by the YouTubes of this world.
Though the Google-owned platform insists it is too soon to be concluding anything about pay-to-view YouTube channels, telling reporters: “We’re in the early days of piloting paid channels. Just as the partner programme empowered creators to take their channels to the next level, we look forward to seeing how creators bring new content to their fan communities on YouTube”. v
