Back in episode 59 I gave my initial impression of YouTube’s premium “YouTube Red” service. Overall, I wasn’t impressed, but after a year and 20 episodes - and getting access to a new 3-month trial - I wanted to revisit the service and see what had changed and if it would become a regular part of my cord-cutting utilities.
What is YouTube Red?
To put it simply, Red is a premium service created by YouTube in order for them to do more specialized content with some of the top creators on the platform. It costs $10 per month. With that $10 per month, you get benefits, like absolutely no advertisements, access to their Red Originals programming (which I’ll touch on more later), total access to Google Play Music - which is on par with Spotify Premium, and the ability to download videos and playlists.
Ad-Free Watching
We watch a lot of YouTube in my house. In fact, I think I personally watch more YouTube than I do Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Video. It’s the first thing I turn on when I want to watch TV at the end of the day or on the weekend. When you watch that much, ads can be frustrating. That’s why I love the idea of cord-cutting and pay extra for Hulu’s Commercial-Free package. (Although that’s not 100% accurate. Thanks, ABC…) Netflix doesn’t have ads, either.

The problem with YouTube ads is that there is one in front of every single video you watch unless it’s one that is not being monetized, which, if we’re honest, is a rare thing. Having YouTube ad-free is a fantastic perk, but I’m not sure if it’s worth $10 per month.

Let’s continue and see if this pans out.
YouTube Red Originals
I love seeing creators get the chance to make something they’ve always wanted to make. This is the idea behind Red Originals. From what I understand, the way it works is YouTube selects several of the top creators on the site and given them an injection of money to make “that thing”. For instance, when Red launched in October of 2016, PewDiePie, Rhett & Link, Lilly Singh (AKA Superwoman), and Joey Graceffa, among others, released new premium shows. These were only accessible behind the Red paywall, but the first episode was free as a teaser.

When I originally looked at YouTube Red, there wasn’t a lot of content there. There was even less that I felt deserved my time or money. In the end, that was the number one thing that made the service unappealing.

A year or so later, there have been additions to what is available and some of it is definitely worth your time. My favorite shows have to be Rhett & Link’s Buddy System and Mind Field by vsauce. One of the hardest parts about the Red Originals is that I don’t know a lot of those creators. That didn’t stop me from checking out some of the shows.

I watched both seasons of Joey Graceffa’s Escape the Night, a murder mystery reality show, which has some good ideas, but overall fails in its “reality show” style. They were obviously acting…

Anyway, there is much more to sink your teeth into here. In addition to the YouTube creator programming, the service is bringing in other talent and trying to position itself as a competitor to Netflix and Hulu. This time around, there is plenty to choose from.

One nit to pick: it’s hard to find the Red Originals unless you’re using a mobile device. At least that’s my experience. Unless you’re subscribed to a YouTube channel with Red content, you’ll have to hunt it down through searching for “YouTube Red Originals”. I think there should be a button in your Subscriptions that will take you right there. Just a thought.
Google Play Music
This is an underutilized feature of my subscription. I don’t listen to a lot of music unless I’m working on something that needs my full focus and I can...