YouTube Red offers better multimedia experience – even for those with ad blockers

Sick of watching ads before YouTube videos? Don’t worry, there is a fix – but it’ll cost you.

Last week, Google launched a new service called YouTube Red which allows users to watch videos on the popular website completely ad-free. Finally, ad-free YouTube, just like it used to be. No more annoyingly long and often terrifyingly loud commercials. No more banner ads that take up the bottom third of the screen while I'm trying to watch the newest music videos.

The caveat? It's $10 a month.

At first glance, I chuckled at the idea of paying a monthly fee because I already have ad-blockers installed on my browsers [Editor’s note: Brian has assured us that he turns them off while browsing Yahoo. Thank you, Brian]. Google would need to do more to entice me, and other tech savvy consumers, to buy into a service they don't even need. But after a little homework, and some more thought, I realized YouTube Red isn't such a crazy idea after all.

First, and most importantly, here are the primary benefits of having a YouTube Red subscription:

• Ad-free videos: Watch ad-free videos across YouTube when you’re signed into your YouTube Red account. This includes ads before and during a video, as well as banner ads, search ads, and video overlay ads.

• Offline video viewing: Save videos and playlists to watch offline when you aren’t connected to the internet. Save offline is available on YouTube and YouTube Gaming mobile apps when you are signed in with your YouTube Red membership account.

• Background play: Play videos while using other apps or when your screen is off. Background play is available on YouTube and YouTube Gaming mobile apps.

YouTube Red, as seen on a mobile phone. (Digital Trends)

Added perk for subscribing to YouTube Red:

• Free Google Play Music subscription included at no additional cost.

While I wasn't completely sold on Red at first, the inclusion of the Google Play Music changed my mind. Now, I have the option to view ad-free videos on YouTube and have access to uninterrupted, on-demand music at a reasonable cost.

To put things into perspective, Google Play Music competitors, like Spotify and Rdio, charge about the same for their subscription music-streaming services, so why wouldn't I want to get more bang for my buck? If I'm going to pay for a streaming service, I might as well get maximum value for it.

So the real question: Is YouTube Red all about the green? At the end of the day, people who use ad-blockers are going to continue using ad-blockers. According to PageFair, ad-blocking grew 41 per cent globally in the last 12 months and there are close to 200 million ad-blockers in the world. If you're a content creator, no matter how big or small, this is troubling news. With Red, however, there's a new revenue stream here to potentially give content creators their fair share.

For those who just want to enjoy YouTube as it is now, fear not. The YouTube you've come to know and love won't change if you decide to skip on Red. But, if you're a commuter like I am, there's enough incentive here to switch over for offline videos and the added benefit of Google Play Music.

As of right now, YouTube Red is only available in the United States but is slated to launch to the rest of the world in 2016.