YouTube Adds Downloads - Some for a Fee

Filed in archive Video and Audio on February 15, 2009

YouTube shook up the world a little this week by announcing that it would a.) begin offering downloads and b.) charge for some of them.

The story is being covered by a number of blogs and news sources (VentureBeat, TechCrunch, paidContent.org, Mashable, Lifehacker). VentureBeat describes the issue well:

Google is obviously trying to find the right way to draw money from the site without ruining it, but it has so far stayed away from perhaps the most obvious form of monetization: Selling videos. Until now.

Google has talked about the new development; they emphasize the offline usage aspects of the change over the paid downloads.

A second VentureBeat article outlines how Google's paid content will be coordinated with partners who get a share of the revenue generated.


© Sérgio Savaman Savarese