YouTube has given its live streaming partners, which include some that show live sport, the facility to charge viewers for accessing content on the video-sharing website on a pay-per-view basis.
The option to charge viewers – as opposed to relying on the established free-to-view, advertising-funded model – will be available initially to rights-holders in the US, UK, Japan, France and Canada, according to the Broadband TV News website.
“You can now monetise your live events with advertising or paid options,” YouTube said. “A live event can be claimed in the new video manager like any other video and monetised with in-stream ads or paid options where you can set price by country.”
YouTube has a growing portfolio of partners that show live sport. The India Times newspaper group, the global internet rights-holder for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket competition, is currently using YouTube to show action from the 2012 tournament in territories around the world, the third year in a row it has done so.
In February, digital media company Perform launched channels from its live sports streaming service Livesport.tv on YouTube. Perform said the streaming would be advertiser-funded, but some of the action would be available to stream on a paid-for basis in the United States.