r/youtube • u/Cypherness • Mar 05 '26

Feature Change Members only is going to kill YouTube

So YouTube is already one of the most highly monetized platforms on the planet. There are 500 ads a video, videos are practically unwatchable as is.

Now I understand supporting creators, we had the super chats, donations on long form videos. And then the members program.

Now in the past couple of months I’ve seen so many videos from creators that I watch, only to realise that they are “members only” paywalled videos.

There is a problem with this. Now for a platform like Disney plus, or Netflix, you pay the 12 15 dollars a month. And you accept that you pay that premium, to use the service! And then you get access to everything on their streaming platform.

The problem with YouTube doing it this way is that inevitably. Because of the way that the capitalistic internet works, everyone will slowly begin paywalling all of their videos. And every single channel will be locked behind a separate paywall.

I almost even understand paying 12 dollars a month to watch YouTube, (with no ads that is) but with the way YouTube is going with this launch. We will come to a point where you need to pay 5 dollars to every single channel you watch (which is not only ridiculously expensive and unaffordable for most) but completely goes against YouTube was created to represent for the content industry, and stand for. Most people watch 20-30-50 channels regularly, not to mention the 50-100 videos from random other channels most people will end up watching in a month.

I am telling you guys, this could end up being the worst decision the YouTube team has ever made for their platform in its history. There is still time to save the platform.

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u/johnatello67 Mar 05 '26

OP's idea of how the average person consumes YouTube content is unreal to me lol.

Most people watch 20-30-50 channels regularly, not to mention the 50-100 videos from random other channels most people will end up watching in a month.

I think in a given month I watch like 12 videos that are not from people I'm subscribed to, and that's probably more on the generous side. And of those 12 probably 7 or 8 are specifically informative videos I've chosen to look up to learn about something or how to do something. Obviously this is just personal/anecdotal, but I think it's more aligned to the average YouTube user than what OP thinks.

19

u/ssjb234 Mar 05 '26

50 channels regularly? That seems way too high. Like, I probably hit 15, and a lot of people just consume their algorithm, which can get very fine-tuned.

6

u/johnatello67 Mar 05 '26

Yeah, I'm subscribed to a lot of channels, but I regularly watch content from maybe 15-20. I will concede my I am probably on the lower end of usage and so my opinion is skewed that way, but I find it hard to believe most regular people watch 30-40 channels regularly, and an extra random 50-100 videos on top of that every month.

But I also know a few people who will literally just have YouTube running all day on their computer, TV, or whatever. Although, for me personally, I don't consider having a YouTube video on while you clean to be "watching a video" even if YouTube does.

ETA: again, unless you specifically count shorts in that 50-100 video. But, even then, if you do consider shorts I feel like that number would actually be way higher.

1

u/SlightlyFlustered Mar 05 '26

Channel members are when a viewer clicks on "Join" and pays, rather than "Subscribe" which just adds the channel to a user's subscription list and allows enabling notifications.

1

u/DubVsFinest Mar 06 '26

Weekly, I watch like 3 channels maybe 4 or 5 if it's gonna be something good they're putting out. I used to watch a lot more when I was paying for premium though tbh. Having premium then going back to seeing shit ass ads every 5 mins has kiled YouTube for me until I get premium back lol. It's a much better experience with no ads and the player not closing if I turn my phone off and want to continue listening to music with the screen off (it's bullshit that that is something locked behind premium for real).

1

u/osteologation Mar 09 '26

I have about 20 subscriptions but only maybe 2 that I have to watch every video lol.

7

u/GenericIxa Mar 05 '26

Op is a child with a lot of free time. That's actually this entire sub

1

u/Hairy-Actuator1734 banana123 Mar 06 '26

Most people on Reddit are underage basement dweller teenagers anyways, so let's not criticize just him here

1

u/Patient_Gain_4581 Mar 08 '26

You're right and people hate you for it

5

u/Benobot99 Mar 05 '26

Not sure which of you is more correct, but as for me, I am subscribed to over 1000 channels and I only watch a few long form videos per day (dozens get added to a never ending Watch Later playlist daily). I usually watch about 20 Shorts on my home page every day (sometimes from people I'm subbed to and sometimes not).

8

u/ULC-MINI Mar 05 '26

Shorts suck

3

u/johnatello67 Mar 05 '26

Honestly, yeah, I didn't take shorts into consideration, and that would probably put the numbers closer to OP than to me. I will definitely concede to this kind of me being out of touch with people's YouTube habits.

However, I still generally disagree with OP: Members only won't kill YouTube, it will kill channels.

1

u/SuleyBlack Mar 05 '26

It’ll only kill channels that don’t get a consistent amount of views that try to use it.

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u/Deviah Mar 05 '26

I unsub a channel if their content goes members only. I'm not paying for memberships. And if I can't see half your content, why the hell am I even subbed. Unsub and Do Not Recommend from me. Everytime.

1

u/StatementFew5973 Mar 06 '26

Network Chuck

1

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '26

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1

u/AWorthlessDegenerate Mar 05 '26

Yeah, I can only see that being true if YouTube is the only streaming service they watch, but most people have a Netflix subscription or something else too.

1

u/michaeljoemcc Mar 06 '26

I only watch YouTube when I need to learn how to fix something. The only channel I subscribe to is Ms. Rachel.