Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
YouTube Premium Lite $7.99 a Month Ad-Free Tier Expands to the US
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well, not everyone watches the same stuff. Options are good, right?
We all search for stuff. It’s YouTube.
I take that to mean there will be banner ads in the YouTube interface when you’re searching or browsing, not when you’re watching videos you’ve searched for or when browsing the Home (FYP) page.
The same ads that are there already. You will continue to see those.
What you thought would make no sense when they’re saying the service results in ‘most’ videos (aside from ones specified) being ad-free.
Putting ads on any videos you watched after searching or browsing (FYP) would mean this sub would just be for channels you subscribe to.
Somehow I doubt that is what they’re selling here.
Last edited:
That's not accurate. The only videos that will still have ads is music. And no background play either, which is a strange omission. Me, I'm sticking with Vinegar or uBlock Origin.
No, having more options is bad.
I don’t know why we have this phenomenon whereby lots of people will react to news like this as is if they are being forced to pay for this subscription.
It’s clearly an improved offer on nothing (and loads of ads) or Premium that costs too much. This is a choice - you don’t have to choose it.
If you want to give Google $14 a month you still can, don’t worry.
I'm mostly concerned with my TV as there are no ad-blockers there. Also, until they actually offer it, none of us really know what "most videos" actually means. While I kinda grit my teeth at sponsorships ads by the creators, I kinda understand why they do it. Oh, I see little reason for background play when I'm playing on my TV. Not sure why, but from what I have read, it's going to roll out in different markets at different times. Don't remember if they even mentioned when they expected the whole country to have access. I half expect my market (one of the top 3 media markets in the country) to get the short end of the stick.
YouTube is a global entity. This isn't a new sandwich at Arby's. They aren't rolling this out by zip code. They are rolling it out by global market - Thailand then New Zealand for example.
You said, "So YouTube Inferior..."
Sounded like a general bashing statement to me, but thanks for clarifying you didn't mean it the way it sounded.
Because it's "inferior" to actual premium... It was just a play on words, because the opposite of a premium experience is an inferior one lol.
It's ''superior'' to people who don't want to pay a whopping $14 to not see loads of ads on every video.
Last edited:
Just started a 1 month free trial. I’m the target customer for this tier. I don’t care about music videos or background playback at all, but we watch a ton of YT videos on our Apple TV. My wife never fails to complain when an ad interrupts a video but $14/month for Premium was a no-go for me. Hopefully this hits the spot.
I wish they would rollout this option for me already. Still only see the $13.99/mo plan.
not sure where to go to question this, but my free trial is about to end AND while I signed up for a Premium Lite sub at 8 bucks, it's telling me I am going to be charged 11 bucks. Where can I go to find out about this?
Have you tried going down this path? I’m sure it’ll be clunky but that price is wrong.
Had to fuss around a bit, but eventually I got into an online chat with them. Turns out I got the free trial via apple, and APPLE will charge 11 bucks for this 8 buck subscription... which becomes 8 bucks when ordered directly from youtube/gurgle. The process of DOING that was fraught with issues... as in the process not working even though I did exactly what I was told. Eventually he had me go through an incognito page, while it got farther than before, I had to try the final step 2-3 times before I got to the page wanting to know which card to use. Now I can appreciate the 14 buck charge for full premium, I always thought it was 19 bucks, which was too much for me. I am now a happy camper giing for thje 8 bucks lite version. BTW, thanks for the link, I've never seen that page before but it looks like the correct jumping off point to get in touch with them.
Wait, I just tried signing up and it offered 10.99 instead of 7.99. What gives?
As expected, YouTube has announced the expansion of its $7.99 a month Premium Lite plan to the United States, following a months-long pilot phase in international markets. The new, lower-priced version of YouTube's paid video subscription service functions largely without ads, though music videos on the platform continue to include them.
According to the Google subsidiary, YouTube Premium Lite is aimed at people who want to consume podcasting, make-up, gaming streams, tutorials, and other core creator content on YouTube that is distinguishable from music.
It's important to note that the new Premium Lite plan does not include the ability to download and background play YouTube videos on devices. For users who want ad-free music on YouTube and YouTube Music, plus offline and background play, YouTube continues to recommend its Premium plan ($13.99 per month).
YouTube said it will continue to expand its Premium Lite pilots to additional countries this year and introduce more ways for users to get the most from their subscriptions. YouTube also revealed today that it now has over 125 million users worldwide who subscribe to YouTube Premium or YouTube Music.
Article Link: YouTube Premium Lite $7.99 a Month Ad-Free Tier Expands to the US
If you sign up in the browser and not the app it will be 7.99. YT is trying to make up for the money they lose whenever Apple takes a cut on in-app purchases.
The issue is that doing the free trial locks you to the fruit... like I explained above. Seems that using the app to upgrade goes for the 11/mo as it is an apple subscription apparently because you downloaded the app from the fruit. Use a browser, go directly to google and get the 8/mo price.
Downgraded from regular premium and it’s been great so far. I’m not even getting ads on music vids.
Edit: I spoke too soon lol I just got one. Seems like how “big” the artist is makes a difference
Edit: I spoke too soon lol I just got one. Seems like how “big” the artist is makes a difference
Last edited:
Finally they came to their senses. I paid for the original Premium lite as I couldn't give a rat's ass about their music features or background play, I only wanted to get rid of the ads that made using the platform impossible. Last time they suggested I'd just pay twice as much for the full premium to get what I wanted which wasn't ok for me. So I cancelled completely and just used ad blockers instead. 0e/mo for Google. That's what they wanted, that's what they got.
Now I will keep using the ad blocker solution until they find a good enough way to block it, then subscribe back to the Premium lite. I'm not against paying for ad free content, but I'm against stupidity and them expecting me to pay for full premium without wanting even half of it's features makes no sense at all. So let them enjoy life without my payments for as long as possible.
Now I will keep using the ad blocker solution until they find a good enough way to block it, then subscribe back to the Premium lite. I'm not against paying for ad free content, but I'm against stupidity and them expecting me to pay for full premium without wanting even half of it's features makes no sense at all. So let them enjoy life without my payments for as long as possible.
I cancelled last week, but 3 minutes of ads for 5 minutes of video drive me back to the subscription.
The big reason why I chose YouTube Premium is I no longer have to deal with all the annoying ads, let alone the constant battle between YouTube and ad blocker extensions for web browsers.
