After testing in recent months, Google is reportedly proceeding with the launch of a YouTube Premium Lite subscription plan that has no music.
According to Bloomberg today, “premium lite” will “soon” be announced for YouTube users in the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand. The US availability is notable, with testing never happening stateside.
Premium Lite is for those that “primarily want to watch programs other than music videos.” Today’s report says members will get access to the “vast library of podcasts and how-to clips without advertising.”
There are no details at the moment on whether other features like offline downloads or background (screen off/app closed) playback are included.
Top comment by Adrian Gibbs
The skeptic in me thinks they'll price this so close to the other plan that it won't be worth it for most. I'm probably jaded, but actually giving us what we really asked for for a fair price doesn't seem realistic. There will be a catch, and it'll be a big one.
What we do know is that music videos will still have ads. It does not seem like you’ll get access to YouTube Music (Premium).
As such, YouTube Premium Lite can be thought of as a way to just get ad-free video if you’re already subscribed to a different music streaming app. At the moment, people that pay for YouTube Premium end up just using YouTube Music since they’re already paying for it. This new plan could change that, though having one YouTube service would still be more affordable.
In the US, YouTube Music Premium costs $10.99, while YouTube Premium is $13.99. It remains to be seen how much cheaper YouTube Premium Lite will be without having to pay for music licenses.
More on YouTube:
- YouTube on TVs adding music ‘Display’ with live lyrics, artwork
- YouTube Design on its new red color and magenta gradient
- YouTube for Android fixes some miniplayer bugs
- YouTube Premium discount coming to Google One, testing 4x playback speed
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