YouTube, the Google-owned video website, is to offer paid subscriptions to some premium content later this year.
Google began investing heavily in
original video content in late 2011, providing funds to film makers in the form
of an advance against future advertising revenues.
According to eMarketer, a research firm, advertising spending on digital
video in the US grew by 47 per cent to $2.9bn (£1.84bn) last year but is dwarfed
by the $65bn spent on television advertisements.
Television made up about 40 per cent of total media spending in the US in
2012, according to eMarketer, compared with less than 2 per cent from online
video
