YouTube Rumored To Launch Paid Content This Spring

It looks like YouTube is wanting to attract more content producers to its platform, as well as make a couple extra bucks on the side, because according to AdAge, the video-streaming site is planning to offer paid subscriptions for individual channels to its users starting sometime in the spring.

YouTube is said to have contacted a "small group" of content producers on YouTube, asking them to create paid channels that will cost anywhere between $1 and $5 a month, which isn't too expensive at all, when you consider that this is just for one YouTube channel, the cost can add up, resulting in spending up to $20 per month for just four channels.

In addition to charging for content via channels, YouTube is also considering charging for content libraries and access to live events — their own version of pay-per-view in a way. Other than that, though, nobody's sure what channels YouTube is making deals with, but AdAge says that they've been contacting highly-popular channels about the new system.

YouTube knows that its users probably won't enjoy the fact that they'll have to start paying for the content that they've been watching for free, but it's said that YouTube is recommending the channels to take in consideration of how their audience reacts to the new system. Then again, since more and more people are cutting cable, paying for a few subscriptions on YouTube will still end up being cheaper in the long run.

[via AdAge]