"We are getting an audience large enough where we have an opportunity to support creativity, to foster creativity through sharing revenue with our users," co-founder Chad Hurley said, according to press reports. "So in the coming months we are going to be opening that up."
Hurley reportedly said that the company will roll out a monetization system that includes pre-roll ads, according to the BBC. But details of the plan remain sketchy.
Hurley's comments come as YouTube faces competition from sites that have lured away contributors with promises of windfalls. The creators of Lonelygirl15, for instance, took their Webisodes to Revver, which splits ad revenue with uploaders 50-50.
Additionally, Break.com late last year said it planned to up its payment for some user-created videos from $250 per clip to $400; the site offered as much as $2,000 for animated shorts.
But YouTube still boasts far more traffic than competitors like Revver --which recently suffered a shake-up that saw two of the company's three founders depart.
At the same time, one of the reasons YouTube draws so many visitors appears to stem from its lack of pre-roll. Impatient Web users can instantly view nearly any content they wish at YouTube -- for now.
Of course, it's not certain that YouTube is going to suddenly start streaming pre-roll ads. The company might have other plans entirely for monetizing its site. But whether YouTube can find a way to step up its advertising without also alienating its audience remains to be seen.