This time, YouTube Premium Lite might actually happen.
According to Bloomberg, YouTube is set to formally introduce a less expensive “premium lite” version of its subscription service in the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand. This new tier will “target viewers who primarily want to watch programs other than music videos,” Bloomberg says. The price was not specified in the publication.
YouTube piloted a no-ads version of a tier called Premium Lite in some European countries beginning in 2021 before axing the plan in 2023. But the company confirmed to The Verge in October that it was testing a “different version” of Premium Lite, and at least one user reported that the new version had limited ads. That user saw that the price of Premium Lite was $8.99 AUD per month (vs. $16.99 AUD for regular YouTube Premium).
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The Verge reports that YouTube has been testing “a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free” and that “we’re hoping to expand this offering to even more users in the future with our partners’ support,” according to a statement from YouTube spokesperson Paul Pennington. Pennington did not specify whether or not the service will be available in the United States or how much it would cost.
SOURCE: THE VERGE
