On their official blog, YouTube announced on Oct. 21 that they are launching a new paid service that comes with multiple benefits for Youtube users. This new service isnn’t that surprising, considering Netflix’s move to create original content. This new paid service is to be called “YouTube Red” and it leads to the question ‘whose idea was it to take the ads out of Youtube?’

The idea isn’t bad itself, to an extent it even makes sense. Especially when the service comes with the ability to save a video to watch offline, along with additional features that are mentioned in the post. But it doesn’t change the fact that the ability to avoid seeing advertisements on YouTube can easily be done by installing free apps that block them.

I can’t think of any other reason YouTube would offer such a service, unless it was because they had no choice. It was something that others had beat them to, and the move itself is nothing but YouTube trying to catch up.

That said, as in the case of Netflix, there is nothing wrong with YouTube deciding to try and do something different. In fact, I actually have nothing against the idea, especially with their decision to develop “YouTube Red” into a monthly paid service that they can offer users. It feels natural in terms of the life and development of YouTube as a business and website.

This is especially true when you consider that using YouTube itself is free, and users aren’t paying for them to store the videos that they upload. So, as pointed out by Business Insider on Feb. 15, 2013, YouTube users are watching 4 billion hours of video per month, with 72 hours of video uploaded every minute. I have no doubt that this is still the case today, considering how often it is used and linked by individuals and businesses.

In any case, even the move for them to add advertisements in the first place all those years ago makes sense when thinking about it now, and as mentioned above it, the development of “YouTube Red” does feel natural in terms of YouTube growth and development.

But at the end of the day, I can’t help but feel that the need to include advertisement free YouTube videos as a feature for users to sign up for was nothing more than a move that came late, and was only made because they had no choice. Then again, it does have to be considered that some people haven’t figured out how to use advertisement blockers, or may not have the ability to do so for technical reasons.

But even this only leads to more questions that may not be answered, unless one happens to actually be aware of the thoughts and considerations that went into the development of “YouTube Red.”