YouTube Red Rolls Out Today

Droid Report gave a heads-up that soon, hitting the “SKIP” button on ads would no longer be a problem for those who are willing to pay the price: For only $9.99 a month, a YouTube user will be able to subscribe to ad-free services, among other features. And YouTube’s Premium Subscription will roll out within the next 24 hours. The premium subscription for YouTube, officially named “YouTube Red,” will be rolled out today, Oct. 28.

The new service was teased on the third week of October, and on Oct. 21, YouTube Red held an event to introduce YouTube Originals. YouTube Originals is a layer of the YouTube Red subscription that gives the user access to exclusive content created by YouTube’s biggest stars, paired with Hollywood’s best entertainment producers.

For example, one of the YouTube Originals productions that YouTube Red’s team was so proud to announce is a collaboration between YouTube’s biggest star, PewDiePie, and the producers of "The Walking Dead." The upcoming show promises to give YouTube Red subscribers an online horror sitcom worth looking forward to.

YouTube Red will be a composite of several services in one subscription:

-Ad-free YouTube viewing.

-The capacity to play videos in the background on its mobile app.

-The ability to download videos for offline consumption.

-An integrated version of YouTube Music Key, which was a previous effort to create a premium subscription service for YouTube, but limited to music.

-A premium subscription to Google Play Music.

-YouTube Originals, exclusive content created by YouTube’s top stars paired with Hollywood’s best teams.

YouTube seems to have packed a whole lot of value for its upcoming $9.99 a month service. Will the market be happy to pay for this suite of services bundled with never needing to see another YouTube ad, ever again? Or will YouTube Red go down the drain as another failed attempt at building a premium layer to YouTube? Only time will tell.

YouTube Red will roll out today, Oct. 28, but will be initially available to the U.S. There is no news yet on the timeline for YouTube Red’s rollout to other countries. Interested prospective subscribers will be able to enjoy the service free for the first 30 days.

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An in-depth report by The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/21/9566973/youtube-red-ad-free-offline-paid-subscription-service

A previous YouTube Red article on Droid Report: https://www.droidreport.com/youtube-going-premium-subscription-platform-11317

The official YouTube Red page: https://www.youtube.com/red