YouTube Premium Lite Now Rolling Out, Makes 'most' Videos Ad-Free For $7.99/month

Following reports last month, YouTube Premium Lite has just launched for $7.99/month in the US and promises to make “most” videos ad-free.

YouTube Premium Lite has been in testing in one form or another for quite some time now, and is now finally seeing a formal debut with a new “pilot” in the United States. The plan costs roughly half as much as standard Premium, coming in at $7.99/month as opposed to $13.99/month.

There are two primary changes with new Lite offering.

Firstly, YouTube Music is removed. As a result, you’ll still see ads on music videos, and the YouTube Music app will retain ads as well if someone opts to use YTM with a Lite subscription. Lite subscribers will also not have the ability to download videos or music for offline use. Background play is also not available.

As such, the only benefit to YouTube Premium Lite over a free viewer is the lack of ads on videos, again, so long as they aren’t music videos. YouTube says:

We’ve been testing Premium Lite to make sure we have the right balance of features and benefits for those viewers who want to watch most videos ad-free – whether it’s gaming, comedy, cooking or learning. For users who want ad-free music on YouTube and YouTube Music, plus offline and background play, we recommend the Premium plan.

On a support page, YouTube Premium Lite is further detailed with both YouTube and YouTube Kids. It’s also more directly mentioned that music-related content is the only place where ads will still be present.

With Premium Lite, you won’t get ads on videos like gaming, fashion, beauty, news, and more. Ads however may appear on music content, Shorts, and when you search or browse. Premium Lite doesn’t include YouTube Music Premium or features like video downloads and background play.

Google is rolling out YouTube Premium Lite starting in the US as a pilot program, and the updated version of the plan will also be brought to Thailand, Germany, and Australia, the other countries where this plan has been in testing previously.