Is Youtube finally about to have competition? Vessel opens up, youtubers join

[MiaSanMia]

Are you ready to start paying to watch Web videos?

 

Jason Kilar is ready to find out. After a couple of months of tinkering, the former Hulu CEO is ready to bring his next startup to the public, which will give them a chance to pay $3 a month to watch videos they might be used to seeing for free.

 

Today Vessel, Kilar’s new service, is open to anyone, in two different flavors: A free version, which shows you clips you can find on YouTube and other video sites, and a paid service that gives subscribers a three-day “window†where they can see stuff before it shows up anywhere else.

 

Kilar has been explaining his strategy â€” in short, he thinks superfans will pay for early access to stuff from their favorite video creators — for a while. So there’s no need to go over it again (but if you want to you can see him explain it at length, at our Code/Media event last month, in the video at the bottom of this post).

We can tell you a bit more about who Kilar has signed onto the service, using some of the $75 million he’s raised as an inducement: He says that he’ll launch with 165 channels, and that 135 of them will have stuff that’s only available for paid subscribers.

 

That second group, which already included music videos from Universal Music and Warner Music, and clips from YouTube stars like Rhett & Link, now also includes stuff from Phil DeFranco, an early YouTube favorite, and GloZell Green, one of the three YouTubers who recently interviewed Barack Obama.

 

New entrants on the free side include NBCUniversal’s* “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon†and “Late Night with Seth Meyers,†which will provide clips the day after they air. Depending on who you listen to, those clips may or may not end up behind NBCU’s own pay wall (I don’t think the new ones will).

 

Again, paying for subscriptions is not new for some kinds of video, like the stuff that Netflix and Hulu Plus offer. But it is a new concept for lots of the stuff Vessel is offering, so this will be a closely watched experiment. Kilar is trying to give himself a head start by offering free, year-long subscriptions for people who sign up in the first three days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a lot of people are saying youtubers who've joined are just greedy for money 

[continuum]

Meh

 

the restricted videos are probably going to be re-uploaded somewhere else shady anyway? for anyone to watch

[Pupper]

I'm not even a huge fan of any youtubers and I can barely name 5, so I have no interest in this what so ever. 

[SourKeys]

Lol I'm sorry but the reason why we all love YouTube is because

it's free and entertaining..for free

faves are cool and funny

good way to procrastinate

it's free

 

Watch the vids get reuploaded onto dailymotion or something 

[˹AS˼]

I can definitely see die-hard fans paying for this so he's got a good idea in that sense. I mean, there's bound to be 1,000+ die-hards fans for famous Youtubers so that's already $3,000 a month for one single Youtuber.

 

Would the general audience like myself pay? Ummmm NO! I watch Youtubers because while I'm watching them, I do other busy work.

[loves]

I think I would pay but only if there is content I'm really intrested in

[KpopTalks]

I won't pay $3 just to watch videos that I can see later like WTF   I don't even watch youtubers

[Ashelin]

There is not a single youtuber I would pay to watch. This isn't necessary at all. 

[~ PD Hercule Poirot ~]

No 

[Johnny Suh]

[cherry yuuki]

Nah, I mean, there's a reason YouTube is so popular - it's free. 

And if you can't wait 3 damn days to see a video then go ahead, spend your money on this thing. 

But as for me, I would not...I can wait and I don't feel a necessity to watch videos "only available for paid subscribers". I'll stick with YouTube, they'll get uploaded there or elsewhere eventually anyway. 

[PoshLuxe]

I's rather be patient than pay.

[✨ Ass Fat ✨]

this is pretty stupid though

it's going to be reuploaded on anyways 

[Rapmon's Ahjussi Husband]

Youtube is free, bye ....

[The_Joker77]

This is stupid 

[Syc]

I really can't see this having much of a future. Already people are questioning why they would pay $3 to see something that they can easily view on youtube or some other free site. That was my first thought tbh 

[KissontheW1nD]

I won't pay $3 just to watch videos that I can see later like WTF   I don't even watch youtubers

[NickyGolightly]

It's not really competition, Youtube is still free

This is more so just for the die-hard fans, that want content as soon as possible, but this is a minority of people

[tousle]

disapointed at rhett & link

[sneeze]

Yuck.

 

YouTube is slowly but surely getting waaaay too corporate a la Facebook style

 

way to usher in its own inevitable irrelevancy

[Affection90]

no thanks

[Sully]

I don't watch enough YouTubers to care enough to pay money to see anyone's videos. 

[sane]

But will it have ads?

[hopeislove]

pretty layout in the pictures, but I have no reason to use it lol

[No Heart]

The reason why this payment method works is because of the same reason streaming sites, like Twitch, work. People won't pay because they want the content ahead of everyone else--that is just a bonus. They will pay because they want to support their favourite media personality. To some of you, $3.00 may seem like a lot; however, to others, that is just a couple of days without coffee.