Google is testing a more affordable premium subscription for YouTube that offers ad-free and non-ad-free viewing possibilities of YouTube Premium, such as offline downloads or background playback.
The new subscription is called "Premium Lite". THE specific subscription currently being tested in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Νορβηγία and Sweden.
"In Scandinavia and Benelux (except from Iceland), we are testing a new offer to give to users even more options: Premium Lite costs €6,99/month and includes ad-free YouTube videos,” a YouTube spokesperson said. YouTube's existing Premium package costs around €11,99 per month in Europe.
Premium Lite will not run YouTube ads on the web, Android, iOS apps, smart TVs and game consoles, and the YouTube Kids app. However, it does not offer any YouTube Music benefits such as ad-free listening and does not include any other features of the Premium package, such as background playback (when you want to switch applications while still listening to YouTube video), or offline downloads.
The Premium Lite package sounds like a tempting proposition for those who can't stand ads.
But the price is about 60 percent of the price of a regular Premium subscription, and offers about a quarter of its benefits. YouTube reports that the current subscription is still in an experimental phase, but that it is considering creating more packages.
