YouTube has formally announced the launch of a new low-cost premium tier of service, and offered a rare update on the number of customers who are currently watching YouTube content without advertisements.
On Tuesday, YouTube Premium Product Manager Jack Greenberg said more than 125 million YouTube users around the world are accessing YouTube content without commercial interruptions by paying for YouTube Premium or taking advantage of the company’s generous free trial offers, which see some customers get complementary access to YouTube Premium for as much as six months with certain device purchases.
In most areas, YouTube Premium comes bundled with a number of other products, including YouTube Music, which further enhances the subscription offering. But, not everyone wants or needs the benefits afforded by YouTube Premium — some people just want to watch their favorite creator content on the biggest screens in their home — and, for those users, the company has introduced a new low-cost option.
YouTube Premium Lite will allow subscribers to stream content from a number of genres without commercials, including videos that relate to news, fashion, gaming, beauty and other verticals. Officially, the service is promoting YouTube Premium Lite as offering access to “most videos” without advertising, and it isn’t clear from their announcement on Wednesday which videos or live streams will still have commercial interruptions. Commercial reads that are edited into creator videos will still be there, though YouTube does allow users to skip them.
“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,” Greenberg said.
YouTube Premium Lite is available in the United States now at a cost of $8 per month. The plan is coming to Thailand, Germany and Austria in the next few weeks, and could expand to other areas later in the year.
The standard YouTube Premium tier is also available, priced at $14 per month, and includes offline downloads, background play and access to YouTube Music.
The launch of the new Premium Lite tier comes as YouTube recognizes a shift in the way people engage with content on their platform. Measurement firm Nielsen has ranked YouTube as the streaming platform with the biggest share of time spent with TV every month since it began evaluating broadcast, cable and streaming service viewership in its regular “The Gauge” reports. In February, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said more YouTube users were streaming content on their smart TVs than their phones.
Smart TV users typically don’t need things like access to separate YouTube apps, offline video streams or background play — they just want to stream YouTube. Trends associated with how users are watching YouTube content strongly indicate that the new YouTube Premium Lite is targeted at those who primarily watch YouTube videos on their TVs, and want a cost-attractive option to remove commercial interruptions.
If that’s the case, YouTube Premium Lite has positioned itself as one of the cheapest ways to watch commercial-free video content on a smart TV. For the same $8 per month, streamers can purchase a subscription to Netflix, though it will have ads. The same is true for Paramount Plus and Peacock, which cost the same $8 per month and include ad interruptions. Disney Plus and Hulu each cost $10 per month with ads.
That said, YouTube is also fine if streamers prefer free, ad-supported access to the service’s catalog of videos. In January, parent company Alphabet revealed YouTube earned more than $10 billion in advertising revenue during the last three months of 2024.
