YouTube Retests Premium Lite Plan With Fewer Ads

YouTube is expanding its “Premium Lite” option, which offers a less expensive subscription with less advertisements, to other nations.

The new YouTube memberships, which are around half as expensive as the standard Premium membership, are now available for testing in more countries. This was revealed to The Verge that it had been testing a new version of the subscription in Australia, Germany, and Thailand after discontinuing Premium Lite, its less expensive version of YouTube Premium, last year. “Premium Lite” just lowers advertisements, in contrast to the regular Premium subscription, which also offers YouTube Music, offline downloads, and background play. But it doesn’t get rid of them entirely.

Although it was never completely cancelled, YouTube had already removed the “Lite” plan from the majority of countries in late 2023. The strategy was first introduced in Thailand, and the internet giant acknowledged intentions to continue testing it.

For several months, the company has been testing a “different version” of the subscription with “some users in Australia, Germany, and Thailand (with the most recent one beginning in Australia at the start of this year),” according to Jessica Gibby, a spokesperson for the company who confirmed the tests to The Verge. “We don’t have anything else to share in terms of a broader rollout at this time,” Gibby continues.

The Premium Lite subscription in Australia costs $8.99 AUD per month on the web, which is slightly less than half of the $16.99 AUD price for the full edition of Premium, according to a screenshot posted on Threads by singer-songwriter Jonah Manzano. Another screenshot from Manzano shows that the prices for iOS are $11.99 AUD for Premium Lite and $22.99 AUD for Premium.

Another source acknowledged that the package costs $11.99 per month in Australia, which is half as much as the regular Premium plan. Additionally, a pricing of $8.99 per month seems to be being tested.

Following the launch of a number of new features aimed at enhancing user experience and strengthening the bond between artists and their followers, YouTube has now expanded.

The new edition of Premium Lite contains fewer advertisements on YouTube and YouTube Kids than the prior version, which had none. YouTube notes in a footnote that viewers may encounter “non-interruptive ads when you search and browse” and that advertisements may show up on “music content and Shorts.”

YouTube had a glitch earlier that month that mistakenly banned accounts and deleted channels all around the world.

Eventually, YouTube restored access to premium services including YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and YouTube Music subscriptions, as well as the channels.

The screenshot’s rubric also demonstrates that this version of Premium Lite lacks features that were previously absent from the previous edition, such as ad-free access to YouTube Music, offline video download and playback, and background video playback.

In 2021, YouTube first started testing Premium Lite in some regions of Europe.