Cheaper 'YouTube Premium Lite' Ad-Free Tier Reportedly Coming Soon

Google will imminently launch a new, more affordable YouTube "Premium Lite" tier in a bid to appeal to viewers who don't really watch music videos, Bloomberg reports.

General YouTube Feature Redux
The lower-priced version of YouTube's paid video subscription service will function largely without ads, though music videos on the platform will continue to include them for viewers on the Lite tier.

YouTube Premium is the service's existing $13.99-a-month plan in the US that lets subscribers watch everything on the service, including music videos, without ads.

"As part of our commitment to provide our users with more choice and flexibility, we've been testing a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free in several of our markets," a YouTube spokesperson told Bloomberg. "We're hoping to expand this offering to even more users in the future with our partners' support."

The Verge reports that the Premium Lite plan has been tested in international markets for months. Now, it's set for a wider launch, including its debut in the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand. The new tier will be announced soon, according to Bloomberg's sources.

The new follows YouTube's claim earlier this month that viewing figures for the platform on TV have now surpassed mobile and become the primary device for YouTube viewing in the United States.

Tag: YouTube

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Top Rated Comments

contacos Avatar
9 months ago
Loophole: VPN to countries like Albania and you won't be seeing any Ads since Google is not selling ad slots on YouTube there
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Eggtastic Avatar
9 months ago
Bring back the thumbs down or is that too "offensive" to some sensitive people / parties?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
carniesandrubes Avatar
9 months ago
Still on my $7.99 grandfathered plan from the Google Play Music All Access days.

But I'd still pay double that if I had to. It's that good.

Sure you can cobble together all kinds of third party hacks to get most of the same benefits (and constantly tweak them as Google makes changes to break them) but it's a documented fact that YouTube pays their creators a significantly higher percentage of their revenue compared to any other social media platform. So it's good to know the creators I watch get paid much more from my Premium payment than they would by me watching annoying ads.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0049190 Avatar
9 months ago
I’ve already got too many paid subscriptions. I’m certainly not going to add another one to watch YouTube.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
stocklen Avatar
9 months ago
Youtube is beyond ridiculous with its ads nowadays.

You can sit down to watch a video and get ads before starting... then literally 60 seconds into the video you get more ads. This is NOT a pleasant viewing experience and a classic example of greed overtaking the end user satisfaction.

Whoever thought that serving so many ads was a good idea...? We all understand the need for ads but there comes a time when it ruins the experience.

Why, also, do that ads have a 'skip' necessitating you hovering over a button when they appear - the skip point should be the end - and if you don't reach a button in time you are then subjected to even more!

It's a bit like websites that have so many ads on screen the actual content is constantly leaping about all over the place and lost in the sea of ads. When 90% of the screen is adverting then something has gone wrong and you have lost sight of the whole reason the content exists. No good if people switch off because of the ads.

Back to the tiers... in the UK we don't have annual just monthly and it's expensive. The only thing I would be interested in paying for is potentially losing the ads and I don't need music content as I get that elsewhere.
I tried the free trial and it made YouTube much more pleasant experience but I don't want to pay for music too.

Hopefully the ad free tier is a lot cheaper and therefore potentially worth having.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maruyama Avatar
9 months ago
This is clearly aimed at people like me who would subscribe but already subscribe to Apple Music or Spotify and don’t want to pay for two music services due to the forced bundling of YouTube Music.

If I can finally just pay for an ad-free experience, no forced music bundle, and stop having to deal with YouTube ad blockers always breaking, they will have me as a customer.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)