YouTube Tests Cheaper 'Premium Lite' Subscription for Ad-Free Viewing

[CarlJ]

Airplay seems to be the answer to that based on the responses í have seen in this thread.

That a big step down in usability for a consumer oriented device that comes with a remote control. I’ll happily pay YouTube a little every month to make the ads go away and be able to use the app directly on-screen instead of using a Rube Goldberg setup with two devices just to watch YouTube.

This new service, if it comes to the US, would be a win for me, because I only care about the ad removal, have never touched their music streaming service.

 

[iterva]

That a big step down in usability for a consumer oriented device that comes with a remote control. I’ll happily pay YouTube a little every month to make the ads go away and be able to use the app directly on-screen instead of using a Rube Goldberg setup with two devices just to watch YouTube.

I completely agree. Never even tried it. I am a schmuck who pays Google their ridiculous premium price. Until now that is. But i agree with many others here that the price could/should be even lower.

 

[Velli]

So... is Youtube saying they make $6.99 per customer in ad revenue per month?

Even if it's a bit less than that, it sure sounds like a lot.

In 2020 Google in total (not just Youtube) made 180 billion, off an estimated 4 billion users. That’s a little under 4 dollars per user per month. Imagine a world where all users paid 5 dollars per month for ALL Google’s services, and Google would actually have the customers in focus, rather than advertisers.

Sheep economy.

 

[KALLT]

I will subscribe as soon as it is available to me. I like Safari and I find that currently no content blockers manage to block those ads entirely, if at all (in the case of Wipr). The ads are nauseating and are robbing me of my good mood due to how poor and incessant they are, not to mention extremely interruptive. Airplay 2 is unusable to me then, due to the stream cancelling after a double ad interruption.

7 euros is comparatively high, no argument about it. However, it is still significantly less than YouTube Premium which does nothing for me as I stream my music elsewhere (and don’t want to switch) and don’t really need background audio or offline downloads. YouTube is pretty much entrenched and without competition for the types of videos I like to watch.

 

[thuchu1]

If it's like most pay services these days it will go like this:

YT premium at launch: $10/mo, up to $12/mo
Today: lite offers an alternative to the $12/mo plan with less features
In 6mos: lite is now $12/mo, premium is $14/mo

 

[Kuckuckstein]

Wait a minute. If I look at the premium pricing from the web page it is 11,99 EUR.

Right - fun isn’t it? Well that is the Apple tax that Google passes on to the user. Just found out a few days ago comparing “YouTube premium family” on iOS VS Android or Web.

And while many say “Greedy Google” - what please is Apple adding in terms of value in this case? The servers from which content streams aren’t theirs. Neither is the Internet through which data flows. And they are not the content creators. And subscribing to such a service on iOS does not mean you will use it on these devices primarily.

I would assume that Google uses the subscription to pay the creators at least the same amount as they would gain from advertisements, but we know how little that is from music subscription discussions.

And no, I am not siding with Google here and agree with many others regarding cost vs benefit in general. The case just demonstrates the issues I have with the twisted App Store system and the general 30% discussion: if I have to pay Apple just because I clicked subscribe through an iOS device, shouldn’t the public transport company get a share because I rode a bus while I clicked subscribe?

This subscription changes nothing for the device usage, because I could have watched the same content all the time on the same devices. And Apple will not install memory just for me to download content. Or are they suddenly paying extra attention to make sure nothing shady gets on my device through the subscription?

If apps and subscription are needed to finance Apple, why not ask for a fair price for the actual operating system and other Apple software to begin with?

I wish they would go back to a transparent financial model, where you pay for the hardware what it costs, and do the same for the OS. Let’s see how often users would update if they were faced with the direct cost.

 

[rafark]

I still feel that's too expensive for ad free, even though I watch much more YouTube than any other streaming service. I'd pay around 4 euros, but no more.

Maintaining a website like this costs a sh*tton of money, what they’re charging you it’s not expensive at all.

 

[Valkyrie743]

I only pay $9.99 for premium and It comes with google play music as well as add free YouTube offline download and background playback.
This seems like a ripoff.

I was hoping for $4.99 for just add free. I don’t use my YouTube music u hate how the app is layed out.

 

[poked]

It’s 2021. Get an adblocker and stop paying premium for things that are obvious price-gouges.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

Please explain how the Brave browser eliminates ads for YouTube on Apple TV.

Air Play from your Mac to your Apple TV. Seriously I get people use the YouTube app on Apple TV, but that has to be .003% of YouTube viewing.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

That a big step down in usability for a consumer oriented device that comes with a remote control. I’ll happily pay YouTube a little every month to make the ads go away and be able to use the app directly on-screen instead of using a Rube Goldberg setup with two devices just to watch YouTube.

This new service, if it comes to the US, would be a win for me, because I only care about the ad removal, have never touched their music streaming service.

Everybody wants a pony. No way I am paying Google anything. With all my ad blockers and other privacy extensions, Google is probably still making money off of my data in some way and YouTube is the ONLY Google product I use.

 

[Sodium Chloride]

Is it just me that really has an issue with YouTube charging extra for background playback, which is essentially an operating system feature, not an app feature?

£12 per month for this and no ads is too high. I trialled it and then cancelled. I would pay £6 pm, but only if background playback was also added.

You can play YouTube in the background with iOS 14 Picture in Picture.

 

[bwillwall]

You guys honestly want to pay that much just to remove ads? No thanks YouTube will never get a penny out of my pocket. They are a horrible company with NO regard for their users OR the creators that made it what it is.

 

[smoking monkey]

Agreed, have to pay Google to avoid their ads and still deal with the “Today’s sponsor is”. If you complain in the comments about it you’ll be bombarded with “they have to make money” crap. Funny how they made ”enough” before sponsors where a thing. If google would crack down on this practice I would pay for premium.

I think many Youtube channels are now using semi pro to professional filming, editing, lighting and sound. That costs a lot of money. In video sponsorship is a way for them to make sure of a steady income stream with which to pay editors etc. You can always just skip ahead the invideo sponsor.
BUT... I don't disagree with you though as some channels make an outrageous amount of money. 100,000 hits is apparently between 500 to 2,500 bucks aside from in video sponsorship.

 

[poked]

I think many Youtube channels are now using semi pro to professional filming, editing, lighting and sound. That costs a lot of money. In video sponsorship is a way for them to make sure of a steady income stream with which to pay editors etc. You can always just skip ahead the invideo sponsor.
BUT... I don't disagree with you though as some channels make an outrageous amount of money. 100,000 hits is apparently between 500 to 2,500 bucks aside from in video sponsorship.

But that doesn't account for the millions of channels that don't make that much money at all. The problem is that Google has a substandard analytical scheme that screws over content creators, wether casual or just getting into making videos so the algorithm will simply never shoe their videos before a popular youtuber. How many times can you honestly say you scroll past the first fifteen videos on a page for a topic you're looking for only to find a perhaps poorly-made or unedited video from an earnest person trying out video-making with no related experience doing so? A lot of people who are popular now got into the sphere when it was first starting to grow, 2012-2013ish.

 

[smoking monkey]

But that doesn't account for the millions of channels that don't make that much money at all. The problem is that Google has a substandard analytical scheme that screws over content creators, wether casual or just getting into making videos so the algorithm will simply never shoe their videos before a popular youtuber. How many times can you honestly say you scroll past the first fifteen videos on a page for a topic you're looking for only to find a perhaps poorly-made or unedited video from an earnest person trying out video-making with no related experience doing so? A lot of people who are popular now got into the sphere when it was first starting to grow, 2012-2013ish.

Totally agree re the vagaries of the algorithm. But I was just talking about in video sponsors and how they can create a little bit of certainty for creators.

And of course those who make the big bucks are well established on YT. They also sell merch to try and create a steady income stream/make even more money!

Personally, I'd never purchase anything from a youtuber, but I ain't the demo. Teenage boys to 35 year old men are.

And I'd never pay to watch Youtube. I'd just switch off and do something else.

 

[827538]

Youtube has ads? /s

Save yourself the $ and use an adblocker.

 

[EM2013]

I just want the ad interruptions to stop.

$0 with tons of terrible ads or $12 a month to go ad-free is too big of a jump.

Disney+ is $7.99 for all of their content and no ads.

Apple TV+ is $5.99 for all of their content and no ads.

YouTube is $11.99 to remove intrusive ads spliced into user-submitted content.

YouTube keeps interrupting videos and cramming in more and more ads before and after videos, then nagging you every day to pay. Several "ads" are nearly feature-length shows, requiring you to interact with the player to skip the 50-minute "ad" to get back to whatever short clip you were just trying to watch. They are basically punishing users unless you agree to their awful pricing.

Drives me crazy when a 10 min. video has at least 3 ads.

That’s why I always use an adblocker.

 

[BigKahunaBurguer]

Definitely be interested , 11.99 a month is a tad high imo

Watch YouTube all day long now I’ve got premium, it’s great !

This is only $5 less and you don’t have Music, downloads, background play, etc… ?‍♂️

 

[SFjohn]

I’m watching YouTube less & less. Forced ads before 30 seconds of content that show how to work the dimmer on you new IKEA lamp is tedious.

 

[masterhiggins]

Already have it. Brave Browser with Ad-Block installed. Haven’t seen a google ad for 9 months.

 

[ElioLugaru]

This would be good for me, i honestly use none of the other stuff that comes with YouTube Premium besides the ad-free part. I mostly use Spotify for music.

Before anybody says to just use AdBlock/Ublock, I do a majority of my YouTube watching on my Chromecast W/ Google TV (I still use my Apple TV for the other apps.) & my iOS devices.

 

[Salvor Hardin]

Is it just me that really has an issue with YouTube charging extra for background playback, which is essentially an operating system feature, not an app feature?

£12 per month for this and no ads is too high. I trialled it and then cancelled. I would pay £6 pm, but only if background playback was also added.

Google’s been obsessed with this since iOS 6.1 when Safari had a bug that broke background playback, they started bullying third party apps that could do it into using a Safari webview to prevent background playback and after the bug was fixed they spent years figuring out whatever bizzare api trick they use to break it now.

 

[poked]

Google’s been obsessed with this since iOS 6.1 when Safari had a bug that broke background playback, they started bullying third party apps that could do it into using a Safari webview to prevent background playback and after the bug was fixed they spent years figuring out whatever bizzare api trick they use to break it now.

I wish there was a way to get it back. It’s the reason I don’t watch YouTube much anymore.

 

[Pastuh]

Is there a way to block ads in Safari? Or is Brave/Firefox the only way to avoid YT ads?