YouTube Premium: the era of paid social networks

Subscribe to YouTube Premium and watch videos without ads. Subscribe to the Twitter Blog and read ad-free. First it was streaming services, now we have entered the era of paid social networks. And if you use an ad blocker to stop seeing ads, well, now YouTube doesn't want to let that happen anymore.

Google has already announced that it would block those who use ad blockers. The new rule is not yet available, but is common users to see a message, when entering YouTube, asking them for disable their ad blocker. Posteriorly, it will be impossible watch videos in YouTube with blockers on.

YouTube Premium, previously called YouTube Red, has other advantages, such as downloading videos and background play (in mobile devices). But these benefits were not enough to get more subscribers in Premium. No ads is more attractive.

Twitter Blue

Twitter, now X, was the first social network to invest in the premium service, Twitter Blue. The idea was the same as YouTube: pay for no ads.. However, since Elon Musk became owner of the company, strategies for Twitter Blue have been intensified. The Twitter Company invested in content creators, giving more visibility to their content. Blue users gained the verification badge (previously exclusive to celebrities).

Finally, it allowed monetization, paying the influencers who go viral the most, with likes, comments and retweets. Until then, only YouTube had a compensation program for its content creators, the other networks did not return anything.

It is likely that Google will follow the same fate with You Tube Premium: today, you need to have a thousand followers, a considerable number of hours produced to enter the affiliate program. Allowing access to everyone who subscribes to Premium could be a strategy.

Before YouTube Premium

Now, we know that paywalls are a rule. The company Google created Reader Revenue recently. And we need to talk about data protection. There are many laws in the world to protect user data. Bigtechs like Google and Facebook have less information about users, consequently, they are able to earn less from advertising. So, the new way is to do like the media: offer premium services.

Social networks are yet another case of the illusion of a world with completely free internet. Just like social networks, newspapers also invested in free content. In the 90s, paywalls were unthinkable, journalists and directors believed that it would be possible for online newspapers to survive with only advertisements . The public will never pay for news on the internet, they thought.

Today, we know that paywalls are a rule, so much so that. Google offered a service recently. And we also have the issue of data protection laws. It is no longer possible to suck up all user information. Just like newspapers, platforms will need to diversify their revenues a little. Therefore, there is nothing better than doing what everyone does in digital media: freemium products.

Today, we need to choose which streams to subscribe to. It's impossible (or not a good idea) to subscribe to all of them. Obviously, we spend more time with those we pay. With social media, in the future, it will be the same.