Youtube has changed a lot since it first started when we were much younger. I remember the first big change was adding ads to the videos. Although this can be easily avoided by adding an AdBlock software, it’s still inconveniencing to have to deal with ads at all. But, we’ve adjusted. And just as we adjusted, YouTube Red makes it’s appearance into the world.

For $9.99 a month you can have ad free streaming, you can download videos for offline use, and you get a subscription to google play (vice versa.) Youtube will also make you personalized playlists based on your video choices, especially music playlists in the youtube music app. Users also get access to exclusive Red member serieses. I don’t think, though, that YouTube Red is going to be something that takes off the way YouTube is hoping. Although, yes, youtube has advanced a good deal since it’s “birth,” it’s not nearly advanced enough to make me want to pay ten dollars a month for it’s exclusive content. Most of the exclusive content is done by youtubers we can already see for free, and on top of that, the exclusive content will eventually become available for everyone. At least until then, I don’t think red will do well. It’s hard to want to pay for something you know nothing about. If the exclusive content is good, and people see that, maybe more people will subscribe to see more

Let’s look at it from this angle, youtube is expecting people to pay this money and the biggest thing it has going for them is the free google play subscription and ad free. However, most people I know are dedicated to a specific music engine for a reason. I for one am a big fan of spotify. I have premium and I really like how it’s set up, I have all my music on there. I don’t want to switch what I normally use all for the sake of personalized music videos. As someone who doesn’t typically use youtube for music, this big aspect of the Red description means nothing to me. Also, ad blocker is a thing that exists, so essentially, Red doesn’t sound appealing to me. I think youtube made a bad move making the service $9.99 as well. Grant it it’s a bit cheaper than spotify, but it doesn’t have the convenience spotify has. Yes, you can lock your phone and listen to the music of your choosing, but you have to unlock it and switch to a different video in order to listen to something new. This doesn’t work for those of us who hook up our phones to the car radio and listen to it while in commute. It’s not the safest thing to look down at your phone while driving, especially for how long it would take to switch out a video.

Overall, youtube red isn’t something I see myself subscribing to anytime soon. With my netflix subscription and my spotify subscription, I’m not really willing to pay that extra money for the service. It’s too different from other music engines, and the exclusive content is too unknown to urge me to pay to see it.