The answer to your last question is subjective. I wouldn't subscribe to YouTube for a fee to idly watch random videos, but if I had a compelling personal or professional reason, I would, just as some people are willing to pay Dropbox $9.99 a month for 100 GB of space, which is 50 times what the service gives you for free (this isn't counting the extra space you get for referring other customers, though that's capped at 18 GB).
A la carte definitely is preferable to the cable model, where you pay for stuff you don't watch. And while it's hard to think of paying for something you've been getting for free, I think we're going to see more people paying for premium content over time.
Answer
The answer to your last question is subjective. I wouldn't subscribe to YouTube for a fee to idly watch random videos, but if I had a compelling personal or professional reason, I would, just as some people are willing to pay Dropbox $9.99 a month for 100 GB of space, which is 50 times what the service gives you for free (this isn't counting the extra space you get for referring other customers, though that's capped at 18 GB).
A la carte definitely is preferable to the cable model, where you pay for stuff you don't watch. And while it's hard to think of paying for something you've been getting for free, I think we're going to see more people paying for premium content over time.