The most popular content creator on YouTube has hit back at viewers complaining about YouTube Red, the new $10 per month subscription service. In a Tumblr post, Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) said the ad-free service is a direct response to the growing number of viewers using adblock. Using his channel as an example, Kjellberg said that ad-blocking has risen from 15-20 percent to 40 percent in the past two years. That 40 percent cut has kept YouTube unprofitable, as it seeks to balance server costs with advertising income.
Source: PewDiePie: “YouTube Red is a Direct Response to AdBlock” | Digital Trends