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Will YouTube offer a subscription service?

 CEO Salar Kamangar said the video-sharing network is "thinking" about a subscription model and trying to place "bets far and wide."

 

Fruzsina Eördögh

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Posted on Feb 2, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 9:57 pm CDT

YouTube might create a subscription-based service for its original content. Or at least YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar is “thinking” about it.

At the D:Dive Into Media conference on Tuesday, Kamangar stated that the video-sharing site could potentially offer such a service in the future. Despite stressing YouTube has yet to decide if such a service will be implemented, let alone how it would be implemented, tech and web business outlets seemed eager to discuss the implications of the potential service.  

CNET was quick to point out that this is not the first time YouTube’s CEO has toyed with the idea of a subscription service. In 2009, then-CEO Eric Schmidt said such a model would “supplement advertising revenue on the site” if created.

With YouTube getting more page views than ever and preparing for an onslaught of professional content, now might be the best time to try it.

“What we’ve learned from our experience with YouTube is that you can’t predict what’s going to be big,” Kamangar said. “We’re trying to place our bets far and wide.”

Photo by Rego Korosi

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*First Published: Feb 2, 2012, 3:23 pm CST