Some YouTube channels start charging viewers

Some of YouTube's content partners have begun selling monthly subscriptions to access their videos. So far, more than 50 content partners are selling subscriptions to their channels, with prices varying from $1 to at least $8 per month and discounts for full-year subscriptions. More paid channels are coming soon, according to YouTube.

Image source: YouTube

Each paid channel is offering a 14-day free trial to viewers who provide payment information through a Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) account. But not all channels are available in the United States. For instance, Corman's Drive-In channel, which offers access to director Roger Corman's library of 400 B-movies, is blocked here, and U.S. visitors who try to subscribe will encounter this message: "This paid channel is unavailable in your country."

Google-owned YouTube added the subscription payment feature to give its content partners more ways to make money through the site, the company said in a blog post. "[O]ne of the most frequent requests we hear from these creators... is for more flexibility in monetizing and distributing content," YouTube said.

Lacking from the list, for now, are some of YouTube's most successful content partners. Names such as Maker Studios, Machinima and Fullscreen are notably absent.

Not all content producers are convinced that charging for video on YouTube will succeed, however. "There is so much content on YouTube that if somebody throws up a paywall, people will say 'Screw you, I'm going to watch the other 10 million channels," Sarah Penna, a co-founder of of MCN Big Frame, told TheWrap.

For more:
- read YouTube's blog post
TheWrap had this story
paidContent had this story

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