YouTube currently relies on ads to generate revenue. However earlier this year the company did confirm that an ad-free tier was in the works and now according to a report from Bloomberg, it seems that the company’s plans for an ad-free video streaming service is coming along nicely, with YouTube claiming to have signed up as much as 90% of its viewership.
However as noted by Bloomberg, this viewership consists mainly of YouTube’s own home-grown celebrities, such as PewDiePie, and music videos. If you were hoping to watch television shows, it seems that networks such as Fox, NBC, and CBS have yet to come on board, mostly because the networks feel that YouTube is more of a promotional platform used to stream short clips and trailers as opposed to complete shows.
According to a statement provided by YouTube, “We are progressing according to plan. We have support from the overwhelming majority of our partners, with well over 90 percent of YouTube watchtime covered by agreements, and more in the pipeline about to close.” Assuming it all goes to plan, this new paid service is expected to be launched by the end of the year.
Last we heard YouTube still had quite a way to go before launching the service, but perhaps they have made decent progress since then. Pricing of the service remains unclear, but we have heard the $10 subscription fee tossed around before.
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