Cheaper YouTube Premium Lite Subscription May Arrive Quickly

People who wish to watch their multi-hour-long YouTube documentaries with out an advert break each jiffy might lastly have a less expensive option to do it. The Alphabet-owned streaming service has lengthy been testing a cheaper ad-less subscription tier referred to as YouTube Premium Lite. If the most recent experiences may be believed, it might come to fruition in 2025, although it in all probability gained’t provide all of the perks of the $14-a-month Premium subscription.

The last time we heard about Premium Lite was in October final yr. YouTube had examined the characteristic within the EU till October 2023, and since then, the corporate has been radio silent on new subscription pricing. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Premium Lite would come to the U.S. and several other different markets worldwide. A YouTube spokesperson advised the outlet it will provide “most movies ad-free.” Google reiterated it has been testing this tier in a number of markets exterior the U.S.

“We’re hoping to increase this providing to much more customers sooner or later with our companions’ assist,” the spokesperson advised the outlet.

The brand new tier might let you watch all of your common movies and podcasts with out these annoying advert breaks, although it might limit you from different advantages, like ad-free YouTube Music. Different perks, like offline downloads and background play, would even be restricted to the costlier tier. As evidenced by leaked screenshots from final yr, Premium Lite might provide “restricted advertisements” that may nonetheless seem over YouTube Shorts or while you seek for content material.

YouTube nonetheless hasn’t supplied a agency launch date or pricing construction. Different markets present that Lite was priced at half that of YouTube Premium in these markets. That doesn’t imply Premium Lite will price $7 a month. Since July 2023, YouTube Premium has price $14 a month for a person or $23 for a household plan. The streaming service final raised the price of Premium for customers exterior the U.S. in September final yr. Late in 2024, it ended legacy pricing for individuals who used to have a paid Music subscription by way of Google Play Music or YouTube Purple.

Alphabet’s bread and butter streaming service has been at war against ad blockers and those that use them, claiming they violate the app’s phrases of service. Within the meantime, YouTube’s CEO Neal Mohan was ecstatic over new metrics that confirmed more users watch YouTube videos on TVs than on cell. This implies subscribers may be additional inundated with pause ads and QR codes that make advertisers so smitten with streaming advertisements. The migration to TVs is an additional boon to YouTube since folks have fewer alternatives to keep away from advertisements once they’re pressured into the restricted UI on Google TV or Amazon Hearth TV, for instance.

Mohan claimed its YouTube Music and YouTube Premium companies have greater than 100 million subscribers. They plan to convey “new advantages” to Premium subscribers, so there could also be extra methods to distinguish Premium Lite and Premium when the brand new tier lastly hits the scene. Nevertheless, customers anticipate one thing totally different on TVs than on cell apps. If customers pay for his or her $18-a-month Netflix subscription, they is probably not as eager on one other $14 for what they could contemplate less-premium content material. These companies will solely get costlier as time goes on, and if expertise has taught us something, we shouldn’t anticipate Premium to remain at $14 for for much longer.