Would you pay a small fee to allow your kids access to a Kid-Friendly Website?

Question

I own and operate KidsTube.com which is a growing online community for Kids of All Ages. It is a video-sharing site similar to YouTube with one major difference. We constantly monitor all video submissions, comments, messages between members, etc... to make sure that only family-friendly content is displayed on KidsTube.

Since operating costs are growing quickly, and this project is being financed personally, we have to look for ways to produce revenue to keep KidsTube.com online. It comes down to us either displaying advertising on the site or charging a small monthly fee for membership.

My questions is this: With the growing costs of hard-drive space, bandwidth, etc... would you be willing to pay a small fee of say $1.99/month for your child's membership if that meant we could remove all forms of advertisement on KidsTube?

Thanks for your input.

Answer 1

I wouldn't be likely to do so.  My kids (7 and 5) do use the computer, but are heavily monitored.  I do allow them to use websites, but I call them up for them.  The one that we've used most frequently is nickjr.com.  I know that they have an ad when you first call the site up, but it's something that I can skip past.  Sometimes the free sites will link the kids to a pay site (when they attempt to click on a particular game), but I always just back them out.

We've bought educational software for them, but I just can't see that I'd spend money on a website.

Answer 2

We have planty of cash and could certainly afford a "small fee" but I wouldn't simply because there are oodles and oodles of free websites for kids that are perfectly safe.

Answer 3

For our family, no, but that is because we already have something very similar through their school for free.  But good luck.

Answer 4

I would not pay such a fee. Advertisements are great for your site and anyone who does not want to see them should use Firefox browser with AD Block plus. Your site is a great idea, but I am afraid you will lose traffic if you charge subscription fees.

The hard part with advertisements on your site is to make sure to filter those too. But if you hook up with a decent company I'm sure you can find a family friendly provider when it comes to advertising as well.

You could also put up a donation box through Paypal. I have seen many sites do this in order to stay afloat.