Ok, now, I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “Kynetyk, you’re supposed to be writing about games.  Why are you talking about YouTube Red?”  Well, bear with me, because there are some universal truths that this whole YouTube Red thing gets at, which do have significance to the games industry.

What’s all this about YouTube Red?

In case you haven’t heard about this, here’s a brief description of what YouTube Red is.  YouTube is introducing a paid service option.  There are a number of features for this, including access to exclusive “YouTube Red” content, the ability to download and save content to see later, the ability to play in the background, and an ad free experience.

You might then ask “Why do I need to pay to make YouTube ad free?  I just use AdBlock.”  Well, that’s likely a part of why YouTube Red is a thing.  Various YouTubers have stated that it appears that 30%-75% of viewers use AdBlock.  Obviously, if an ad isn’t being played, then there’s no ad money that will come in from that.  This causes a lot of lost revenue, and while some YouTubers don’t really mind if watchers use AdBlock, eventually someone has to pay for things.  Right now, YouTube is reportedly approximately a break even proposition, but advertising is still getting its bearings online.  Advertisers are not seeing the kinds of results they want, and aren’t paying as much, so Google may be looking at things and saying “The floor is going to fall out from under us on YouTube ads”, and want to find a new way to generate revenue.

Another thing you might say is “Why do I need to pay for the ability to download, or play in the background?  I can do that in other ways.” You’re right about that one.  There are tools like YouTube Downloader that will settle all of this.  It’ll turn it into a video, or an MP3 that you can play with any other player, on desktop or mobile.  On top of that, background play on mobile is more or less a standard feature.  Spotify, Pandora, and native music player programs will do this just fine.  To some, this feels like putting a standard feature behind a paywall.

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