YouTube has officially launched its new subscription tier, Premium Lite, following a period of leaks. This service, priced below the standard YouTube Premium, offers a reduced set of features. While YouTube Premium provides a completely ad-free viewing experience, including video downloads and background playback, Premium Lite adopts a more limited approach.
The image below shows the differences between YouTube Premium and YouTube Premium Lite.
Subscribers to Premium Lite will not have access to offline downloads or background play. However, the service promises to eliminate ads from “most videos”, specifically within categories like gaming, fashion, beauty, and news. YouTube has clarified that ads may still appear on music-related content, YouTube Shorts, and during search and browsing activities.
YouTube Premium Lite offers a $6 saving compared to the $13.99 cost of the full Premium service. This translates to an annual saving of $72, but whether this saving is justified or not, will depend on your own use case of YouTube.
Currently, Premium Lite is being rolled out as a pilot program in the US, with plans to expand its availability to all YouTube users in Germany, Thailand, and Australia in the coming weeks. These three countries have previously been part of a limited pilot phase. YouTube has also stated that it intends to extend the Premium Lite pilot to further countries throughout the year, which should hopefully include Pakistan as well.
The company reports that YouTube Premium has gained over 125 million subscribers globally, a figure that includes trial users. Premium Lite appears to be a move to attract a broader audience, specifically those who prioritize ad-free viewing over features like YouTube Music or downloadable videos.