YouTube Premium Lite has been a welcome escape from the rising, steaming pile of “genuine” influencer advertisements for shady crap I’ve seen on YouTube previously yr. I plan to stay with my Lite subscription for the lengthy haul. And just one factor would make it higher: if Google labored Lite into its group and annual membership plans.
YouTube is seemingly testing a {couples}’ Premium membership in India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, a pleasant two-person center floor for individuals who cannot take full benefit of the Household subscription for 5 folks.
It might take months or years for this promotion to achieve the U.S., if it comes right here in any respect. However even when it does, Google has up to now solely provided group charges for the full-price Premium plan with YouTube Music and all of the bells and whistles.
My fiancée and I each stream means an excessive amount of YouTube day by day, from her Crucial Function and cat movies to my Let’s Performs. However nobody else in our respective households cares all that a lot about YouTube, so a $23/month household Premium plan felt like overkill.
However a YouTube Premium Lite two-person plan? That we might simply match into our price range! So I can solely hope Google decides to supply a wider vary of unconventional household plans quickly.
YouTube Premium Lite lets me persist with my weapons
I haven’t got official stats on YouTube advert frequency, however ever since I let my Premium subscription lapse after the 2023 value hike, it has positive felt like Google has piled in additional advertisements per video previously yr than I ever keep in mind seeing.
I nonetheless tense up after I click on a thumbnail, my mind skilled to count on 5–15 seconds of rubbish as I wait frantically for the Skip advert pop-up. Skip forward a minute? That is normally an advert. Pause the video for 5 minutes to examine on my screaming cat? Time to auto-reload the web page with a contemporary advert!
That is why Premium Lite has been such a easy pleasure, simply well worth the $8/month.
I let my authentic Premium subscription lapse as a result of I could not justify $14/month to take away advertisements after I already had one other most well-liked music app. It did not matter how good YouTube Music was; I simply wished the alternative to bundle it in or not.
Once I made this argument, I normally bought one among two responses: I used to be an fool for not switching to YT Music — even my managing editor bullies me about this — or I used to be a moron for not utilizing Courageous, Pie, NewPipe, or different workarounds to keep away from advertisements without spending a dime.
Google making Premium Lite obtainable felt like validation; clearly, I wasn’t alone in wanting this feature, and I used to be proper to cancel my sub till Google let me pay for what I wanted and nothing else. The one factor I actually miss is having background play — and I can stay with out it — and downloadable movies.
As for advert blockers or ad-free browsers, sure, I am conscious that they exist. However I disabled my AdBlock years earlier than YouTube began punishing folks for utilizing these strategies.
I did not suppose a lot about it throughout my school days, however as soon as I had a full-time job, I felt fairly conflicted about utilizing a loophole that stopped the YouTubers I favored from getting paid for his or her work. Plus, my favourite creators apparently earn rather more from my Premium views than from advert income, so it feels good to help my favourite channels extra straight.
Ready for extra Premium Lite sub choices
Now I am simply hoping that Google ultimately provides a Premium Lite annual subscription, perhaps for $79.99/yr as an alternative of $95.88 whole with a month-to-month sub. After that, Google ought to transfer on to two-person and household Premium Lite plans.
Google bundled Premium and YouTube Music to get households hooked on each, but it surely means households already invested in Spotify Premium Household or Apple One Household will not give Google cash as a result of it means double-dipping.
A Premium Lite household or couple plan can be extra tempting as a standalone, and as soon as Google hooks a household, it is a lot tougher to unsubscribe as a result of all of your freeloading relations will complain. So it ought to profit their backside line, too.
Make these new Premium Lite plans occur, Google! Within the meantime, I will hold fortunately paying for myself.
