Is Youtube about to give up its reputation as the world's most famous "free channel?"

The Google-owned video site is said to be readying its plan of launching a new service later this week, a paid-for subscription that will require users to pay when accessing some of Youtube's prime channels.

The Financial Times reported that charges could cost US$1.99 for a single subscription per month, and will be applied to as much as 50 channels of Youtube. This is said to benefit producers as they'll be able to create fresh and exclusive video content online banking on the subscription earnings.

Those who are willing to pay subscription rates are entitled to access exclusive videos, films and television shows from Youtube's select specialty channels. Another feature of the paid-for subscription is the removal of adverts usually placed in free videos.

No announcement yet has been made on which partner channels will be included in the subscription model.

Last year in October, Youtube launched 60 partner channels, among them are the BBC Worldwide On Earth, ITN, the Jamie Oliver Food Channel and Mixmag TV, Channel 4 and Film 4, Howcast and The Onion.

Aside from the advertising revenues, the paid-for subscriptions are seen as Youtube's alternative money-making venue. The new channels have aided in the expansion of Youtube's audience which now totals to about 1 billion. These users are said to be watching six hours worth of video every month.

Although there is still no confirmation from Youtube regarding the paid-for subscription plan, a Google spokesperson was quoted to have said: 'We're looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer."

The rumours of paid-for subscriptions began as early as January when it was reported that Youtube had been meeting with a "small group of channel producers."

Youtube had apparently asked these channel producers to present proposals for the creation of channels that would require users to pay when they want to get access to certain video content.

Then a month after, a techie blog noticed the inclusion of a "channel subscribe" code that was added to the updated Youtube app.

Salar Kamangar, Youtube's CEO, already hinted of a subscription model during a media conference as early last year when he mentioned that this would "give TV networks and producers of these networks a more direct line to their audience with lower costs."

'We have long maintained that different content requires different types of payment models," a Google spokesman added.

Quick Facts:

  • More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month.
  • Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.
  • 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
  • 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US.
  • YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages.
  • In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth.