YouTube may be doing away with those annoying pre-roll ads altogether. That is, if you’re willing to pay up.
The video service—which is expected to pocket $6 billion in ad dollars this year—is mulling a Spotify-style subscription plan that would remove the ads for customers who shell out for service.
CEO Susan Wojcicki told the Code/Mobile Conference in New York on Monday that the company was “early in the process” but “there’s going to be a point where people don’t want to see the ads.”
The ad-free service is on top of the subscription music-streaming offering that YouTube already has in the works. Wojcicki had no update on a rollout date for the music service on Monday.
YouTube is looking at the subscription service as a means of enticing popular creators to stay within the YouTube ecosystem, instead of jumping to competitors like Yahoo or Vimeo, according to Variety.
Another weapon in their fight for creators: an original programming department that is investing in new scripted, reality, family, and comedy offerings.
Brief Take: YouTube sees the writing on the wall, with younger viewers opting out of ads as fast as that five second countdown clock ticks down.
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