After months of speculation, it’s official: YouTube is rolling out a new program that allows some of its premium channel partners to charge a monthly subscription fee for access to its content.

The new paid channel subscriptions are rolling out as a pilot program that includes a handful of partners. Each channel in the pilot will charge a monthly fee starting at $0.99, but every channel has a 14-day free trial period before the payments kick in. YouTube said some of its channel partners will even offer viewers the option of signing up for a 1-year subscription at a discounted rate. Videos from the subscription-based channels will be available across the web, set-top boxes, smart TVs, smartphones, and tablets.

So, why is YouTube rolling this out? Well, it really comes down to being able to offer its channel partners another way to generate revenue and really make YouTube a platform where they can build a sustainable business. In fact, the site  said “one of the most frequent requests we hear from [creators] is for more flexibility in monetizing and distributing content.”

Initially,  53 channel partners are participating in the pilot program, including Jim Henson Family TV, UFC Direct, TNA Impact Wrestling, National Geographic Kids, Rap Battle Network, SmartTV.com, TYT Plus, Recipe.tv, and Acorn TV. Subscribing to all the initial channels would cost about as much as what you’d expect to pay for extended basic cable TV service. But, most people probably won’t want to sign up for more than a few channels in this current line up anyways.

Obviously the YouTube paid channel lineup is no where near as good as cable’s, but imagine what it could be if some of the major TV networks jumped on board, not to mention over a million other channels that are currently generating revenue through the site’s partner program. (For example, $5 per month for a Daily Show/Colbert Report channel, $4 for a Nerdist channel, $3 for BBC America channel, etc.)

The YouTube subscription pilot program definitely has the potential to offer consumers a variety of channels while giving them the option of only paying for what they actually watch. That’s something U.S. consumers can’t do with the current crop of TV service packages. I’m sure major cable execs are shrugging off this announcement, but honestly it could become a real threat five years from now.

YouTube said it plans to roll out more channels in the coming weeks via a self-service platform for qualifying partners. That means channel partners will have the option of flipping on the subscription without having to clear it through YouTube or Google.

Do you think YouTube’s paid channel subscription pilot program will take off? Let us know in the comment section below.

Photo via Korosirego /Flickr

In its quest to pull in premium content, Google is apparently ready to roll out its first set of paid YouTube channel subscriptions.

The information comes from a Financial Times report over the weekend that suggests the company could be rolling out paid subscriptions for over 50 different premium channel partners. The subscriptions will reportedly set you back about $2 per month, per channel.

We heard rumblings about paid YouTube subscriptions back in January, with the video service rumored to have been in discussions with several of its channel partners about a new subscription-based program. It was also said that those subscriptions would range between $1 and $5 per month, which is in line with the FT report.

Google is currently making plenty of money on YouTube videos, but the company realizes it’s hitting a brick wall when it comes to gaining the kind of content that people desire from other video services. The company has already spent upwards of $200 million to market and cultivate premium content through its channel partners, but so far it’s still not lucrative enough for those partners. The subscription would likely be another source of revenue both for Google and those content creators.

We’re reaching out to YouTube for further comment about the paid channel subscriptions and will update this post with any new information.

Via CNET; Photo via Korosirego/Flickr

A new crop of television-quality video content may be heading to YouTube soon — but not unless you pay for it.

YouTube has apparently reached out to a handful of content partners about launching new paid subscription-only channels, according to an AdAge report published today that cites sources familiar with the matter.

AdAge’s report indicates that the paid channel subscriptions may debut this spring and that pricing would range between $1 to $5 a month. It’s unclear, based on AdAge’s sources, if the subscription fee would cover everything within a channel or only specific portions, such as its video library, access to special live streams, or new episodic video content.

While unconfirmed, adding paid subscription channels to its business model is feasible for the streaming video giant.

YouTube has previously dabbled in allowing its content partners to charge viewers for access to its live video streams (pay-per-view), which it announced back in April. The site has also invested over $200 million to cultivate and entice its channel partners to create premium content for the site — meaning YouTube does have a relationship with the kinds of content producers needed to make paid channel subscriptions work.

Also, a subscription-based content model would be easy for YouTube to roll out since this is currently already being done through its Google Play/Android platform.

We’ve reached out to YouTube for confirmation and clarification of its plans for paid subscriptions and will update this post with any new information.

Photo via Korosirego/Flickr

YouTube is rolling out a brand new look on its website that emphasizes its growing channel-based ecosystem of content creators.

The YouTube Guide, which helps you keep up with new videos from your subscribed channels and activity from friends, is now more prominent on the site as you browse through everything. That means there is a greater opportunity for you to click on stuff that you’ve already determined you liked. YouTube is also adding more opportunities for a person to subscribe to a channel with various subscription buttons. (See a screenshot at the bottom of the post for a look at some of the new changes.)

I’ll admit that the only time I really scan through my feed/guide of activity on YouTube is when I first log in. Beyond that, I rarely think to scan through it for new stuff to watch. These changes may fix that.

Another big change is the way YouTube treats video playlists. As you can see from the screenshot below, the list of videos now appears on the right side of the video player, thus allowing you greater opportunity to scan though the list while the current video is still playing.

The revamped design is also consistent across most platforms, meaning that the website, smartphone app(s), and newly released native iPad app will all show roughly the same user interface, video guide, and subscription functionality. That’s something that YouTube hasn’t really been able to say in the past.

YouTube said the new design will begin rolling out in the next few hours, meaning some people (including myself) may have to wait a while. However, if you’re already seeing the changes, let us know your opinions in the comment section.

YouTube has reached a new agreement with commercial airline Virgin America that brings web video content to passengers during flights, the site announced today.

Beginning Dec. 15, passengers can watch videos from five YouTube channel partners on the small screen that’s in the back of each seat’s head rest. The content includes Warner Brothers’ H+ The Digital Series, WIGS’ Blue, Geek & Sundry’s Written By a Kid, Crash Course, and Barely Political’s The Key of Awesome. — so, not exactly a playlist of 20 funny cat videos you may have missed.

“We chose content that is reflective of the diversity available on YouTube today,” YouTube CMO Danielle Tiedt told VentureBeat in an email. “The selection provides a nice representation of the content that our partners are creating for the platform and gets it in front of an audience in a new and unique way.”

A new crop of videos will roll out every two months, according to YouTube. The videos are only available on flights within the U.S. and Mexico, which I suspect has something to do with licensing. It’s unknown at this time if a different selection of YouTube channel partner videos will be available on other international flights, but it wouldn’t be surprising.

The move is a serious win for YouTube, which is currently trying to show people its content is every bit as good (if not better) as what’s on traditional television. (I’d much rather watch some original YouTube videos than watch reruns of unfunny broadcast network sitcom or a subpar movie that was recently in theaters.) It’ll be interesting to see if this new partnership ends up driving long-term traffic to these particular YouTube channel partners as well.

Virgin America flights do provide passengers with in-flight Wi-Fi, and many people can argue that as a result, this deal really doesn’t mean much. I definitely have to disagree, because I’ve consumed tons of reality TV shows because I was bored and nothing else was on.

YouTube said it plans to make similar deals over the next year to get its content in front of people in new ways.

Photo via YouTube

Popular video production company Maker Studios is apparently raising a new round of funding led by old media entertainment company Time Warner, according to AllThingsD.

Maker Studios does online video production that can be found on YouTube. It’s video partners have over 80 million subscribers and 1 billion monthly views across more than 1,000 channels, which put it on par with Google-owned Machinima. Its most popular shows/channels range in topics, and include everything from Epic Rap Battles of History to The Moms View. (See below for an Epic Rap Battle between Back to the Future’s Doc Brown and the Doctor.)

Time Warner Investments is said to contribute $40 million to the round, which could reach a total of $150 million at a $200 million valuation.

If true, this could be a very big deal for YouTube, which has made a massive effort to boost the level of premium content on its site in the last year. Google has already invested $200 million into its premium channel partners, and also acquired video game video company Machinima for $35 million back in May. It’s also significant because media conglomerates like Time Warner are finally starting to see the business potential in producing quality YouTube videos.

Photo via NoBizPlan

While major TV news networks are almost entirely devoted to discussion of the 2012 presidential debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, a handful of online streaming services are offering coverage of the fringe candidates — aka the people who have no chance of actually winning the election in November.

Iconic broadcast news host Larry King is moderating a debate tomorrow (6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET) that features Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson. King solicited questions for the debate from several online communities, with Reddit being the most popular.

The Third-Party debate is unlikely to bring in even a fraction of the viewership of the Obama/Romney debate, which is exactly why you won’t find a live stream from any of the major cable and broadcast news organizations. You will, however, be able to watch the fringe party debate live on Ora.tv (via its YouTube Channel), Al Jazeera English, and a few other news sites (like, oddly enough, The Hollywood Reporter) using Ora.tv’s livestream player.

“The audience for third-party candidates is under served,” Ora.tv CEO Jon Housman told VentureBeat in an interview. That gives Ora.tv an opportunity to step-up, which the streaming video news site is more than happy to do.

“We think (the fringe party candidate debate) is important, and it plays to Larry’s strengths.” He added that King, who currently hosts Ora.tv’s Larry King Now news program, does have a history of highlighting diverse opinions. Perhaps the best example of this is King’s introduction of third-party candidate Ross Perot to the 1992 presidential election.

Housman admitted that the debate isn’t “a goldmine for us,” but said it made perfect sense for Larry to cover it for the streaming video news site. Ora.tv is also producing a pre-debate show, also hosted by King, that will give some background on each of the four candidates and offer up some background on what viewers can expect.

King also covered each of the three Romney/Obama debates, but went with a post-debate show that drilled into the candidate’s responses. By comparison, King’s Third-Party debate show serves a different purpose and works better before.

“Third-Party candidates usually answer questions more directly, maybe because they have nothing to lose and nothing to hide. You don’t have to parse (their responses) as finely as you do with Romney and Obama,” Housman said.

Since this sounds like a far higher quality debate than the three Romney/Obama debates, I’d expect it would make for interesting television. Housman said he wasn’t sure why broadcast and cable networks weren’t covering it for that reason alone. My guess is that it’s purely a business decision, since anything that doesn’t include the two major party candidates won’t generate enough revenue to justify the resources.

Lately, the world’s most popular video site, YouTube, has put its full focus on channels, specifically its new premium partner channels like Nerdist and the new Tech Feed channel by Revision3. However, there are still plenty of uncategorized videos out there that deserve attention, and YouTube is working on a way to deliver.

The Google-owned video site is experimenting with a new automated channel feature that uses algorithms and user behavior to create feeds of video content related to specific subjects. For example, there are auto-generated channels featuring your regular brand of YouTube craziness, like Wingsuit flying, Tutting (dancing with your hands/fingers), as well as educationally-focused channels like this one based on Cymatics (study of visible sound). And not only will you be able to get a auto-generated channel for cats, but you can also specify the kitty type (domestic long-haired cats, bicolor cats).

YouTube told VentureBeat that the feature has actually been in the works for a while, and is a slight variation on its “YouTube Topics” feature that debuted about two years ago. The topics/categories concept never really took off, but the idea behind it — automatically pulling the hottest content of the day into a convenient stream — is still worth exploring.

I’m guessing that YouTube is aiming for an experience that’s similar to Reddit.TV, a site that collects all the hottest video content from each of the community news sharing site’s “subreddit” categories. Except, this being YouTube, its channels will be much more expansive than Reddit’s. That’s also assuming the auto-generated channels have YouTube’s playlist functionality, which skips to the next video automatically, giving you a TV-like experience. I’d love to have a collection of well-crafted feeds that I could skip through using a remote while leaning back on my couch.

YouTube’s recent efforts to jump-start premium content through channel partners could breathe new life into the automated video feed feature, as the quality and selection of content would likely be higher than when the company first tried to implement it.

Photo via Korosirego /Flickr

Lately, Google has been keen on dropping significant money to attract original programming for YouTube and to promote those programs across its network. Now, Google is reportedly investing in content producers themselves.

Ultra-popular content producer Machinima may see a $30 million round of funding led by Google, according to a report from AllThingsD. Machinima primarily focuses on making videos about video games and players, and it has done extremely well on YouTube. Its YouTube channel brings in over a billion video views per month (1.5 billion in March 2012) and is easily one of the most popular on the site.

If true, it would mark the first time Google has actually taken an active role in funding a company to get its original content. Over the last year, Google has been attempting to push YouTube as an entertainment destination similar to what you’d expect from cable TV or streaming sites such as Hulu. With the kind of programming YouTube is seeking (news/culture/non-scripted regular shows or clips), however, it would make plenty of sense for Google to financially push its most popular partners to step up their games.

That said, AllThingsD’s report indicates that other channel partners might be put off by a Machinima investment. Google is said to already be playing favorites with Machinima, and dropping money into the content company will only further that sentiment. Still, the funding is allegedly coming from Google itself and not its investment arm, Google Ventures.

We’re reaching out to both Google and Machinima for more details, and we’ll update the post with any new information.

Red vs. Blue image via Machinima

Google is launching a new $200 million promotional campaign to push its original YouTube channels across the rest of its properties, the company announced yesterday.

The purpose of the campaign is to help brand YouTube as an entertainment property on par with other major media companies.

The new promotional campaign supports YouTube’s current strategy for boosting the amount of premium original videos available on its site — and making it more than just a place to watch funny cat videos and viral content. YouTube committed $100 million on channel partnerships back in October 2011 to ensure that this strategy succeeds. YouTube channel partners previously debuted a number of original shows, including news programs from Reuters, a new indie film fest channel in partnership with Ridley Scott, original sports programming from Bleacher Report.

Google made the announcement at an event for advertisers last night, which included performances by Jay-Z, Flo Rida, Neon Trees, and others as well as lots appearances by many YouTube channel partners.

It’s nice to see that Google is getting behind its push to get more original programming on YouTube. However, success is unfortunately going to come down to the channel partners. If they can’t create enough big hits, no amount of promotional money in the world will make people tune in.

Via AdAge; Photo via Korosirego /Flickr

The site has boosted its daily page views by 25 percent in the last eight months — and gathering over 4 billion page views per day, reports Reuters. Also higher was the number of video uploads. According to YouTube-owner Google, 60 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute compared to the 48 hours of video uploaded per minute in May.

There are plenty of reasons for the increase in viewership. YouTube has made to make its video site accessible on more mobile devices. smart televisions, and streaming media set-top boxes (Roku, Apple TV, etc.). It’s also redesigned its website with a simplified feel to emphasize YouTube channels.

And speaking of YouTube channels, the company has previously committed $100 million for channel partnerships to increase the amount of premium, original content available on the site. Some of these channel partnerships include Madonna’s DanceOn, World Wrestling Entertainment’s Fan Nation, and exclusive bits from the Onion News Network. More recently, YouTube forged deals to bring a variety of news-related channels to the site from partners like Reuters, Young Hollywood and Penske Media-Ion TV. The company is also working with legendary director Ridley Scott on a short film festival channel, which it has committed at least $500,000 in prize money for a short video contest.

With more premium channel partnerships in place, its understandable why YouTube viewership is on the rise — something that will undoubtedly pay off for Google. Last week during its quarterly earnings report the company stated that its display ads sales are generating $5 billion in revenue due in large part to YouTube’s success.

The new Your Film Fest channel is part of  YouTube’s strategy to boost the amount of premium original videos available on the site — and making it more than just a place to watch funny cat videos and viral content. In October, YouTube committed $100 million on channel partnerships to ensure that this strategy succeeds. Some of these channel partnerships include Madonna’s DanceOn, World Wrestling Entertainment’s Fan Nation, and exclusive bits from the Onion News Network. More recently, YouTube forged deals to bring a variety of news-related channels to the site from partners like Reuters, Young Hollywood and Penske Media-Ion TV.

As part of the partnership, YouTube users from around the globe are invited to submit short, story-driven videos (up to 15 minutes in length) to a Your Film Festival contest. In June 2012, members of Scott’s TV/film production company Scott Free Productions will then select 50 semi-finalist videos, which users will then vote on. The top 10 most voted videos will screen at the Venice Film Festival. The person responsible for the winning entry gets a $500,000 production grant to work with the Scott Free team on a new project.

The Your Film Fest channel will feature the 50 semi-finalist entries from the contest. Those entries will include a variety of story-driven videos, including live action shorts, animation shorts, documentaries, web-series episodes, or TV pilots.

The idea behind YouTube’s Your Film Fest channel is extremely smart. YouTube is motivating people to create original story-driven content by offering them a large audience and a foot in the door to the film industry (via a job working with Scott’s production company, which is credited with making several hit TV shows and feature-length films). If the channel’s video contest proves successful, YouTube could definitely establish itself as a place for indie film makers. YouTube also has the potential to steal some attention away from video upload site competitor Vimeo.

We’ve embedded YouTube’s contest pitch below. Let us know in the comments if you plan on entering and any other thoughts about the new channel.