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> open and free video sharing site > the users of the site are actually the customers Well which is it? Do you want it to be free, or do you want to be treate

• just2n 13y ago
  Both. They aren't mutually exclusive. I don't believe ads are a valid source of monetization. Once you start showing ads, you invariably become evil. Free to use, free content by default, with premiums and ratings/comments to help people decide what's worth paying for. There are a number of shows I watch on YT that I find very entertaining. If the latest 3-5 episodes, posted daily are available to a channel subscriber for something like $2.99 a month, and episodes older than that are free, you can either watch things for free or get access to them as they're made and be more involved with the author via comments, etc. There are more options than "free" or "paid" or "advertisement supported." Unfortunately we're still stuck in a world that's riding the coattails of the cable industry, which is now dying, so perhaps that's a bad model to emulate.