Rumors of an ad-free YouTube have been swirling for a long time now, and in one week, that service will become reality.
YouTube Red is now official, and it offers an ad-free experience across YouTube. In addition to letting you avoid ads entirely, YouTube Red will enable you to save videos for offline viewing as well as playing videos in the background.
YouTube plans to expand YouTube Red’s offerings next year with members-only access to new, original shows and movies. The content will include shows like a reality-adventure series called Scare PewDiePie, a scripted comedy called Sing It!, a romantic drama named Single by 30, an untitled CollegeHumor project that’ll poke fun at Internet culture, and more.
YouTube Red will officially launch in the US on October 28 and will cost $9.99 per month, though there will be a one month free trial when the service goes live next week. When you sign up, your membership will extend across all of your devices and apps, including the recently-launched YouTube Gaming and the new YouTube Music app that’s launching soon and will be “designed to make discovering, watching, and listening to music easier than ever.”
One other detail that’s worth noting is that YouTube Red includes a subscription to Google Play Music, and vice versa. So you pay $9.99 per month and get access to ad-free YouTube and offline videos as well as streaming music through Google Play Music.
YouTube is the first place that a lot of folks go for music and entertainment, and while the ads typically aren’t all that long or annoying in my experience, it’s nice to have the option to pay and have them be gone forever. The ability to save videos offline is a nice inclusion, too. And considering that you can also get unlimited ad-free music streaming with Google Play Music on top of YouTube Red for one price, Google is making a pretty compelling argument for you to give it $10 every month.
Are you going to sign up for YouTube Red?
