Ah, the spin. Ask thousands of consumers their thoughts on a particular topic, digest the results and find a way to spin those results into something that makes you say, “hmmm.”

Take, for example, the results of IBM’s End of Advertising Survey, which found that 11 percent of the 2,400 respondents were willing to pay a small fee to watch online video without advertising. Could that mean that a YouTube Premium subscription option soon would be in the works?

So, let’s put our own spin on this. If 11 percent are willing to pay a fee, does that mean that 89 percent of the respondents would not? Sure, we can’t discount those 11 percent who would dig into their pockets for a chance to watch online videos sans advertising. But, as online video continues to evolve and companies both large and small start experimenting with new platforms for distributing that content – such as what we do here at YuMe – it seems that the jury is still out when it comes to determining what viewers are and aren’t willing to watch.

The idea behind a premium service that removes advertising isn’t crazy – after all, look at the popular of HBO-like networks. But 11 percent seems like an awfully small number to consider when developing business strategies. Let’s give it some more time to see what works and what doesn’t – and how audiences, advertisers and content publishers interact with each other on this new medium.

Jayant Kadambi