YouTube under fire for the way it handled its biggest stars

YouTube's latest creation ‘YouTube Red’ for generating even more revenue is under fire for the way the company has dealt with its biggest stars. A YouTube Red subscription is going to free subscribers from having to bear pre-roll advertisements from their favorite YouTube channels for a price.

Subscribers will have to pay $9.99 a month, and they will get ad-free YouTube videos, Google Play Music availability, exclusive original content from YouTube official Creator partners, such as PewDiePie, and many other unspecified perks.

While talking about the service, Robert Kyncl, YouTube's chief business officer, said that 99.9% of the content on YouTube will remain free, like always.

Consumers have the freedom of choice, and they can remain with a free version of YouTube or can upgrade to a paid subscription for it, but it seems like the YouTube Creators haven’t been left with that same choice. YouTube has apparently played a heavy hand in forcing Creators to be a part of the company behind their Red paywall.

According to the YouTube Blog, the service will zap away those pesky ads and let you save videos for offline viewing or background play on a smartphone or tablet. This feature extends to YouTube Gaming and a forthcoming YouTube Music app, too. Note that premium content—content you pay to view like movie rentals—is exempt from these benefits.

A TechHive report said, "Subscribers also get access to Google Play Music, the company’s music streaming service. According to the YouTube Red about page, current Play Music subscribers will automatically get the new YouTube Red goodies."

Creators have to participate in Red if they want their videos to appear on YouTube in the United States, including the new ad-supported side. A total of 99 per cent of all content creators/videos watched on the site have signed on including The Walt Disney Co., ESPN's parent company. Essentially, most of whatever is available on the free "YouTube site" with advertising will now be available on YouTube's new "ad-free" Red service.

YouTube's chief business officer, Robert Kyncl, told journalists at an event at its studio space in Los Angeles that YouTube Red is, "a major, major evolution of our platform".

The service targets those fans who are impatient. Basically those of you who want to skip the annoying ads that play before the video you want to watch.

According to the Associated Press, both ESPN and YouTube declined to comment on what rights and legal issues surround its participation.

In case a Creator decides to stay on their own without joining the Red bandwagon, YouTube is going to mark their videos as ‘private’, and it will be only viewable to the Creators themselves, no audience would be able to watch them. In the nutshell, Creators not on Red are also not going to be on a public YouTube.

While defending the move, YouTube has claimed that both creators and users have been asking for what is known as YouTube Red now.

A YouTube spokesperson said that presently, the overwhelming majority of their partners that represent about 99% of the content watched on YouTube have signed up. The spokesperson added, “Videos of partners who don't update their terms will be made private, but we remain committed to working closely with these partners with the goal of bringing them on board”.