• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, June 2, 2011

For those who really, really don't like pre-rolls and overlays, or just true fanatics of live streams at Ustream, the video hub has instituted a $3.99 a month premium service that bundles ad-free experiences with special member recognition throughout the site. Generally, ad-free access has not been a big selling point for paid content programs. In theory people like to say they crave experiences that block intrusive ads, but in practice they rarely pay for them. In the case of Ustream the service is stripping much of the ad inventory off of premium users. According to product manager Jordan's blog post, the membership will not only remove the in-stream advertising but also pull out the display ads from the pages.

Is ad-free valuable enough to pay for? Ustream says that the idea was more the users' than anyone else's. They say that the ad-free option was being requested by the massive fan base that has accumulated around the live stream of young eagles nesting in Decorah, Iowa. The "Decorah Eagles" feed has become what Ustream claims is the most popular live video stream ever, topping 125 million views this past weekend. Another popular stream of Shiba Inu puppies (32.6 million views) is also getting a sizable audience of families, educators, researchers and non-profit employees who don't appreciate sitting through a pre-roll or having overlays obscure the bottom portion of the display. At any rate, apparently eagle and dog watchers don't appreciate ads.

Well, we'll see. What people say they would like and what they actually pay for to the tune of $50+ a year are two different stories. Ustream is trying a bit lamely to offer some extra value by adding special social stream badges to these premium members that help them stand out in the community. Something gives me the feeling even they don't fully believe that a large coterie of users will pay to ditch the ads.

Ustream already has a program for publishers who want to keep ads out of their streams. They offer tiers of service for $99 a month (100 ad-free viewer hours) to $999 for 9,000 hours. Ustream tells us that a number of broadcasters have signed up for the Ad-Free publishing service, with a third coming from education, religion and conference segments.