YouTube Planning To Let You Pay To Avoid Ads

Sick of sitting through ads on YouTube just to watch a few seconds of a video clip? The Google-owned service is reportedly readying a version that lets users avoid all the advertising if they’re willing to pay for the convenience.

This is according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports that YouTube is looking for new ways to bring in revenue that doesn’t involve slapping more ads on videos.

YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki revealed the plans at a conference in California on Monday.

“It’s near term,” she explained. “There are going to be cases where people are going to say, ‘I don’t want to see the ads.’”

She says that Google was inspired by the numerous mobile apps that offer two versions — a free one that is supported by ads, and a version that costs the user money but doesn’t bombard them with advertising.

“We’re thinking about how to give users options,” Wojcicki said.

YouTube does allow certain content providers to charge for subscriptions to their YouTube channels, and it’s looking to expand that option along with creating subscription channels of its own. But if YouTube decides to launch a premium, ad-free tier it would be the first time that the company has offered the option of avoiding advertising altogether.

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