YouTube Premium Lite has been a welcome escape from the growing, steaming pile of "authentic" influencer ads for shady crap I've seen on YouTube in the past year. I plan to stick with my Lite subscription for the long haul. And only one thing would make it better: if Google worked Lite into its group and annual membership plans.
YouTube is apparently testing a couples' Premium membership in India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, a nice two-person middle ground for people who can't take full advantage of the Family subscription for five people.
It could take months or years for this promotion to reach the U.S., if it comes here at all. But even if it does, Google has thus far only offered group rates for the full-price Premium plan with YouTube Music and all the bells and whistles.
My fiancée and I both stream way too much YouTube every day, from her Critical Role and cat videos to my Let's Plays. But no one else in our respective families cares all that much about YouTube, so a $23/month family Premium plan felt like overkill.
But a YouTube Premium Lite two-person plan? That we could easily fit into our budget! So I can only hope Google decides to offer a wider range of unconventional family plans soon.
YouTube Premium Lite lets me stick to my guns
I don't have official stats on YouTube ad frequency, but ever since I let my Premium subscription lapse after the 2023 price hike, it has sure felt like Google has piled in more ads per video in the past year than I ever remember seeing.
I still tense up when I click a thumbnail, my brain trained to expect 5–15 seconds of garbage as I wait frantically for the Skip ad pop-up. Skip ahead a minute? That's usually an ad. Pause the video for five minutes to check on my screaming cat? Time to auto-reload the page with a fresh ad!
That's why Premium Lite has been such a simple joy, easily worth the $8/month.
I let my original Premium subscription lapse because I couldn't justify $14/month to remove ads when I already had another preferred music app. It didn't matter how good YouTube Music was; I just wanted the choice to bundle it in or not.
When I made this argument, I usually got one of two responses: I was an idiot for not switching to YT Music — even my managing editor bullies me about this — or I was a moron for not using Brave, Pie, NewPipe, or other workarounds to avoid ads for free.
Google making Premium Lite available felt like validation; clearly, I wasn't alone in wanting this option, and I was right to cancel my sub until Google let me pay for what I needed and nothing else. The only thing I really miss is having background play — and I can live without it — and downloadable videos.
As for ad blockers or ad-free browsers, yes, I'm aware that they exist. But I disabled my AdBlock years before YouTube started punishing people for using these methods.
I didn't think much about it during my college days, but once I had a full-time job, I felt pretty conflicted about using a loophole that stopped the YouTubers I liked from getting paid for their work. Plus, my favorite creators apparently earn much more from my Premium views than from ad revenue, so it feels good to support my favorite channels more directly.
Waiting for more Premium Lite sub options
Now I'm just hoping that Google eventually offers a Premium Lite annual subscription, maybe for $79.99/year instead of $95.88 total with a monthly sub. After that, Google should move on to two-person and family Premium Lite plans.
Google bundled Premium and YouTube Music to get families hooked on both, but it means families already invested in Spotify Premium Family or Apple One Family won't give Google money because it means double-dipping.
A Premium Lite family or couple plan would be more tempting as a standalone, and once Google hooks a family, it's much harder to unsubscribe because all your freeloading family members will complain. So it should benefit their bottom line, too.
Make these new Premium Lite plans happen, Google! In the meantime, I'll keep happily paying for myself.
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