Some YouTube Video Quality Options May Ask You to Pay Money

As ad tracking comes under increasing legal scrutiny worldwide, technology firms are exploring subscription models as a means of compensating for lost revenue.

Twitter has recently attempted various methods to encourage users to pay for services that were previously free, while Google already has a YouTube Premium subscription.

However, recent features tested by the company suggest that it may be looking into adding a paywall to features that were previously free.

A Reddit user has discovered a new Premium video quality option with 1080p resolution and an “Enhanced bitrate” (as reported by This Is Tech Today). The standard 1080p video quality will still be there, but we will also get a higher quality 1080p option for some extra money.

Take it as 1080p ‘Pro Max’ if you will.

The capitalization of “Premium” suggests that this video quality option may only be accessible with a YouTube Premium subscription. This phrasing is strikingly similar to the wording used in a previous experiment conducted in October, where the 2160p 60 FPS option was also labeled Premium.

However, instead of “Enhanced bitrate,” the caption stated “Tap to upgrade,” making it clearer that Google was considering making certain quality options available only to paying subscribers.

There have been reports that the bitrate of some YouTube content has decreased recently. This could be a result of the company testing the separation of 1080p videos into lower and higher bitrate tiers.

With the departure of YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki, there could be changes in the company’s business strategies.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported in their Q4 2022 earnings that YouTube Music and Premium subscribership had reached a record 80 million users. They plan to invest more into their YouTube subscription packages in 2023, possibly at the expense of some free features.



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