YouTube reveals plan to launch ad-free subscription service

YouTube has announced its readiness to launch an ad-free subscription service this year and industry experts see it as a move by YouTube to compete with Netflix and Hulu.

In an email sent to video content creators, Google-owned YouTube said users will be able to watch content without sitting through advertisements. Within the email, YouTube says an ad-free version of YouTube is "another big step in the favor of choice," and gives consumers a more personalized experience when streaming content.

"By creating a new paid offering, we'll generate a new source of revenue which will supplement your fast growing advertising revenue," the email states.

An unnamed source told the publication that the service may debut by the end of the year. The service is also likely to include offline viewing as a sweetener to lure consumers to sign up for the monthly fee service.


YouTube’s updated Partner Program Terms says:

"YouTube will pay you 55 percent of the total net revenues recognized by YouTube from subscription fees that are attributable to the monthly views or watchtime of your Content as a percentage of the monthly views or watchtime of all or a subset of participating content in the relevant subscription offering (as determined by YouTube). If your Content is included in and viewed by a user in multiple subscription offerings,

YouTube will pay you based on the subscription offering with the highest amount of net revenues recognized by YouTube, as calculated by YouTube."