Are you ready to pay for YouTube videos? Well, it’s time for the new chapter – Paid Subscription-based Channels, in the world of online video, to begin. YouTube, with millions and millions of videos, is preparing to launch paid subscriptions for selective channels at the cost of $1 to $ 5 per month. The giant network, with more than 800 million unique users each month, is also looking into hosting live events in the pay-per-view style. In simple words, the world’s largest video-sharing website is planning to take us to an entirely new level of entertainment.

Subscription-based Paid Channels:

YouTube has reportedly contacted a set of channels with the plan to create paid versions of these channels. With this, YouTube has paved way for the brand channels to make money. Apart from the paid versions of channels, YouTube is also considering to charge its users for accessing content libraries. Don’t panic! YouTube is not charging a subscription fee to watch all the videos, but only a few popular channels. Actually, the news is better than it sounds!

Imagine you get all your favorite cable channels online on a pay-per-channel basis. Sounds good! Isn’t it? The list of channels that will be a part of this YouTube’s paid-subscription plan is not yet clear. The channels are likely to be revealed, in late April, at the ‘Digital Content New Fronts,’ where companies like YouTube, Yahoo and AOL host advertisers to announce new sets of online-video series. And, the subscriptions are expected to begin in the second quarter of this year.   

The Longstanding Concept:

YouTube has already hinted about the possibility of offering subscription-based paid content in the past. YouTube CEO – Salar Kamangar, in an interview with Reuters, said that there was a strong demand to offer fee-based videos and programs among certain video producers. And now, this concept is to be launched and treated as an experiment, similar to video rentals (launched as experiment in 2010). This is indeed good news, not just for subscribers of Internet TV, but also for cable subscribers. It’s because, now the users need not subscribe or upgrade to higher package to get the channels they wish.

Partners’ Profit:

Talking about the set of channels, the experiment is likely to start with about 25 at the initial phase. And the revenue split will probably be 45-55 split, similar to the display ads split. YouTube also has planned to offer the video producers with options to include any ads they wish in their paid channels. When it comes to YouTube advertising partners, there are hundreds of partners earning six figures every year from a free video channel. Obviously with paid channels, now the figures are going to increase.

The channels that are successful with the current YouTube model may not be able to gain much by this sudden charge. With this in mind, YouTube is advising the video producers to consider producing content worth paying for, and check how their audience will react for the subscription fee.

In short, YouTube is trying to take a step ahead in monetizing its videos, by effectively launching a pay-per-view service.

This is a guest post is brought to you by Samantha Kirk, a writer for Centurylink Internet. Samantha provides up to date content and information for high-speed internet, phone services, bundles and other Centurylink offers.