Of course YouTube Red is about more than blocking adverts: you also get access to exclusive content (some of which will be provided by PewDiePie himself together with YouTube’s other major stars), background listening on mobile devices and a subscription to Google Play Music thrown in as well. “YouTube Red exist [sic] because using Adblock has actual consequences”.
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“His research showed that around 40% of viewers are using AdBlock, which he said can really impact smaller channels”.
This means that YouTube loses 40% from its own ad revenue, which the company was forced to counter with the creation of YouTube Red. “Personally, I’m ok with if you use adblock on my videos”.
But for smaller channels, this number can be devastating.
Because of his popularity PewDiePie made $7.4 million from his channel a year ago, but most creators don’t reach sums even close to that.
Google ads boss Sridar Ramaswamy recently called them a “blunt instrument” that should worry the ad industry, while suggesting that there needs to be a system for identifying certain acceptable ads that won’t be blocked by any adblocking system. That’s certainly the idea, anyway – whether YouTube Red will actually achieve that objective is another question altogether, a question that PewDiePie realizes is still unanswered.
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Business Insider reached out to YouTube for comment on PewDiePie’s post and will update if we hear back. If so, YouTube luminary PewDiePie has a few things he’d like to say to you. His channel is now the number one most subscribed to channel on the platform, and he makes most of his money – millions of dollars per year – thanks thanks to the kind of video advertising now displayed only on YouTube’s free tier. But because what percentage of that profit will actually go to creators is yet to be disclosed, YouTubers across the board have had mixed reactions to the service, and the conversation has largely been comprised of two topics: “wtf is this service?” and “lol they must not know AdBlocker exists and is free”. Is the $10 price actually justified? “If you read through all those bullet points, the answer behind YouTube Red’s existence becomes a lot more clear”.
