Photo released by Google

One of the official YouTube logos.

YouTube is one of the most well-known websites on the Internet. An October study by the Statistics Brain Research Institute reveals that YouTube has over 1.3 billion users watching 3.25 billion hours of videos each month. Now, Google is giving users a new way to watch their favorite videos: YouTube Red.

YouTube Red is Google’s latest venture into the premium subscription model. For a fee of $9.99 each month, Red users will be able to access exclusive benefits meant to improve their viewing experience. The largest and most advertised of these is the removal of ads while using the premium service. One thing visitors of the standard version of YouTube notice is that most videos have advertisements attached to them. These ads serve as a minor annoyance to people who want nothing more than to listen to music or watch the latest cat video. However, they are also a major source of income for both Google and its content creators.

The elimination of advertisements isn’t the only selling point of the $10 service. YouTube Red is set to benefit mobile users. When watching on smartphones, it gives the option of downloading and saving videos for offline viewing. This allows people to watch the videos they want to see without needing to use data or connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot. YouTube Red also allows background play on mobile devices. This means that people can listen to videos or music when using other apps or when the screen is off. The subscription comes with a premium Google Play Music subscription to allow more widespread access to the musical side of Google.

Like Netflix and Hulu, YouTube Red will also have exclusive videos that only Red users can watch. These will be released by YouTube’s most famous channels and personalities. YouTubers like Matthew Patrick of “The Game Theorists” and Toby Turner will debut new shows such as Turner’s scripted comedy “I Am Tobuscus.” Others, such as “Rooster Teeth,” will release feature length films. These original videos will start releasing by January 2016.

YouTube Red is not without criticism. Many consumers have pointed out that the removal can already be obtained through the free application Adblock, which removes advertisements when in use. In the process, it doesn’t allow YouTube and other websites to earn profits from these ads. According to a survey done by PewDiePie, a YouTube personality with over 40,000,000 subscribers, about 40 percent of YouTube visitors use Adblock. He claims that this is the reason YouTube Red exists, as Adblock hurts smaller YouTube content creators who need the ad revenue and cuts into YouTube’s profits.

Even without the existence of Adblock, it can be argued that the service is lacking in content to make it worth the monthly fee. However, one cannot come to conclusions until experiencing YouTube Red’s free trial this month.