‘YouTube forces video providers to also use ad-free variant’

YouTube threatens to ban video providers from its site if they do not want to participate in the paid version of the video platform. That said the head of Google’s subsidiary, Susan Wojcicki, in a conversation with The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Wojcicki is working on behalf of Google on an ad-free, paid version of the video site. She wants to oblige video providers to transfer their content to the paid version in addition to the free version of YouTube. This would benefit the offer, and thus the potential attractiveness of the ad-free variant.

According to The Wall Street Journal, some video providers, including some major studios, are opposing Wojcicki’s plans. They do not want to participate in the paid version, because they already show their content exclusively and ad-free at a competitor. In response, YouTube seems to want to take extreme measures to convince those providers after all.

Wojcicki says that the providers who resist run the risk of losing their content from both YouTube versions. She hopes it doesn’t lead to this, but according to The Wall Street Journal, she wants to prevent YouTube viewers who consider paying for an ad-free version from being presented with less content. It would be “strange to pay and get less,” according to the YouTube boss.

In April it became clear that YouTube is working on a subscription where the site can be viewed without ads. In a letter to mass uploaders, the company said it wants to give users access to an ad-free service in exchange for a monthly payment. YouTube wants to share the income that YouTube earns from this with the ‘creators’.