Would I Pay?

There's been some buzz about YouTube Red- you know, that service that YouTube is trying to sell $9.99 a month. According to my research from multiple credible sources, YouTube Red is essentially a paid service that allows people to watch YouTube videos without ads and in peace. Although YouTube Red includes other features, ad less videos was the main focus. 
 
This specific service raised some eyebrows and caused a lot of questions. I'd assume that after reading the title of this blog, you would know which question I'm about to answer. So would I really pay $10 just to remove ads? Sadly for YouTube the answer would be a big fat no. Let's face it, I'm a high school student, I don't have the money to pay YouTube just to remove ads. And yes, my parents refuse to pay a lot of things for me so I have to pay for myself. But here's the thing, paying $9.99 a month just to remove ads seems a bit ridiculous considering that ads are either only 30 seconds or that you just have to wait 5 seconds to skip the ad. It really isn't much of a bother, especially compared to TV commercials.

So does that mean YouTube Red is a bust and a waste of money? Not exactly. Remember when I mentioned that YouTube Red included other features? Well according to multiple reputable sources, YouTube Red also includes offline viewing of videos, being able to listen to videos while your mobile device is off and free access to Google Play Music. Interestingly the same goes vice versa. If you're currently paying for Google Play Music, YouTube Red is free of charge. In turn, this deal gives you the ability to stream music and watch YouTube videos ad free just for $10 a month. Now that sounds like a way better deal.

So here's my true answer. Would I pay $10 just to remove ads? No. Would I pay $10 to remove ads, download videos for offline watching and music streaming? Well honestly, it seems like a good deal. It sounds like YouTube Red can be a promising and successful service.      

Now what about the advertisers perspective? Now at first, it would seem that having ad free videos would decrease the sales of whatever product of service that is being advertised. Though this can be correct, not many people really dedicate their attention to advertisements anyway. In most cases if an individual had an opportunity to skip an ad within 5 seconds they probably would. However, unskippable ads were introduced and are on the rise to this day due to people using ad block and other ad blocking software. Although unskippable ads are being more and more common, whenever someone is encountered with an unskippable ad, they either averted their attention to an activity that was more interesting or watched the ad just to enjoy the video they intended to watch. To some things up, advertisers would do just fine without YouTube as a medium to attract customers, considering YouTube probably wasn't a great medium to attract customers in the first place.              
      

The End of Television?

I'm sure we can all agree that T.V is no longer in its prime. Back when I was growing up (like hundreds of years ago), the first thing I would do on a weekend morning is hop on that good ol' television and watch those morning cartoons. 

Now, the first thing I do when I wake up is hop on my phone- regardless of weekday or weekend. The thing about smartphones, tablets and laptops is that they have way more options compared to TV. You can watch your favourite TV shows and ONLY your favourite TV shows.(I was never a big fan of having to sit through TV commercials). You're done with watching shows? You can watch your favourite YouTubers, live streams, text friends- heck! you can even read a good book! The list goes on. Which begs the question, do we really need TV?
 

Well believe it or not, TV is dying. And believe me, it will be dearly missed. May it entertain audiences of all ages in the sky. Here's the thing, with things like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, TV just can't attract the amount of people it used to. On top of that, With YouTube Red being born, TV's funeral can be even closer than we thought it would be. Not only will YouTube will be free of those darn ads, you can even watch videos offline.There will be no need to watch TV when the WiFi is down.  

However TV still has it's uses- for now. the biggest one being anything being live. Now I know what you're thinking, "But Roen there's this thing called live streaming!" and I agree but here me out. Many live streams I've experienced included hiccups, lag or just poor quality in general. And don't even get me started on trying to watch a live stream of a boxing match. So here's this, though TV isn't as popular as it used to be, it still has some value to us- for now. Maybe saying TV is dying is a bit too harsh , I'd say TV is slowly dying.