Google Inc (GOOG) Turns YouTube Into YouPayTube By The Summer

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has already cultivated a strong revenue stream through its various properties, especially with its advertising  on YouTube, which has about a billion visitors every month from around the world. Google has made a lot of money off YouTube, even as the nearly one billion monthly visitors watched content for free. And with thousands upon thousands of channels developed on the site, there is a definite feel of a cable provider going on here.

Maybe that is the inspiration for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its new plan for YouTube, as it announced that it will begin offering 30 dedicated subscription-only channels on the video-streaming site beginning in June. Users may subscribe to each channel individually (like a la carte cable) for a monthly subscription as low as 99 cents per month. The average subscription rate, however, would be about $3 per month per channel.

Google indicated that it will start with 30 channels for now and likely may increase it in the future. The channels will range from Roger Corman-directed movies (yes, there is a dedicated channel) to Sesame Street and other children’s programming are part of the initial list of subscription channels offered.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) said that YouTube may keep almost half of the revenue generated from the subscriptions, and individual channels can have their own incentives, like 2-minute snippets of videos for free before asking to subscribe, reduced rates for annual subscriptions and 14-day free trials.

Image: Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Like the regular YouTube free site, all channels would be accessed by desktop, laptop, mobile device or Internet-capable TV sets.

Do you currently have a favorite channel on YouTube? Would you be willing to pay a subscription to view it in the future? If you were Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and you were expecting to charge about $3 per month for a channel, about what percentage of the one billion monthly users would you expect to subscribe? Do you think this concept will work in the long run? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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