YouTube testing cheaper ad-free 'Premium Lite' tier in Europe

YouTube is testing a cheaper subscription tier that offers ad-free viewing on iOS and other platforms, but doesn't include any of the other features of its YouTube Premium plan.

The so-called "YouTube Premium Lite" subscription is being piloted in several countries like Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. It costs 6.99 for ad-free viewing, below YouTube Premium's local price tag of 11.99.

According to The Verge, YouTube Premium Lite offers ad-free viewing across the web and various YouTube apps. However, it doesn't offer ad-free listening in YouTube Music, background play, or offline downloads.

While the feature is only being tested in some European countries, it could offer an attractive alternative for users who don't like ads but don't need any of the other features of YouTube Premium.

YouTube told The Verge that the feature is in an experimental phase, and that it's considering trying out other plans based on user feedback. Of course, since Google is only piloting the feature, there's no guarantee YouTube Premium Lite will see a wider rollout.

8 Comments

gatorguy 24603 comments · 13 Years

About 3 years ago

Great idea IMO (which probably means they won't do it /s)

The less they rely on targeted ads for income the better off we all are. I'll willingly pay with dollars rather than complain about seeing them if that's an option. I don't hesitate and do just that with YouTube Premium, Hulu, Google Enterprise account, a couple of websites, and avoid the whole ad stuff.

fotoformat 302 comments · 13 Years

If enterprises such as Google know so much about me (it's said that FaceFuck, as another example, knows more about one as an individual than one's own family does) then why the hell does every advert they play at the start - and sometimes in the middle - of the perhaps ten videos on politics, lifestyle and environmental matters I've quickly scanned through every morning for the past two years have absolutely NO relevance to my politics, lifestyle, environmental concerns... nor spending interests?

A few times I've thought to contact some advertisers to ask why they continue to throw money away on no doubt countless people like me since my repeated "thumbs down to this ad" clicks must be recorded, but then why should I bother... let them waste money and all I have to endure is their five seconds of useless and annoying info - whilst I mute the sound - before the "cancel this ad" button can be hit. But I blame Google... why should they bother modifying their algorithm on me when advertising money keeps flowing in, possibly unchecked by the booking agencies. Question: Do Google count a "page impression" read after just four or five seconds, as FB apparently does?

Rant over! However, even at $6.99 I wouldn't be interested... the NYT on-line subscription model provides much better in-depth information for me in Europe as well as three Sudoku puzzles to figure out over my early morning wake-up pot of coffee!

payeco 581 comments · 17 Years

$6.99 seems pricy for ad free YouTube when Google makes very little original programming for YouTube.

payeco said:

$6.99 seems pricy for ad free YouTube when Google makes very little original programming for YouTube.

For what amounts to 23 cents a day I'll be happy to avoid ads.

goodbyeranch 249 comments · 9 Years

Good idea. The ads I saw were mostly low budget fast talking huckster types. The same ad, over and over.

$20+ was too much so I did my best to avoid youtube all together.