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YouTube on Wednesday announced a new premium subscription tier called Premium Lite, which will allow users to watch “most” videos ad-free for $7.99 per month. With YouTube Lite, customers will be able to watch videos across verticals like gaming, fashion, beauty, cooking, news, and more, ad-free, but will be shown ads on music content and music videos.
As an entry-level subscription, the new tier won’t offer several benefits in the full YouTube Premium ($13.99 per month) subscription, like downloads, background play, or the ability to watch music videos ad-free.
The addition to YouTube’s subscription lineup was leaked last month by Bloomberg. It’s been piloted in Thailand, Germany, and Australia, YouTube says, and will now be open to users in the U.S. The subscription will also be offered to all users in the pilot markets in the weeks ahead.
YouTube says it will expand Premium Lite to more markets over the coming months, initially as pilots.
The expansion serves as a way for YouTube to generate more revenue from subscriptions, which could help fuel creators’ businesses. The new Lite tier may make the most sense for younger viewers who have largely replaced TV time with watching online videos on sites like YouTube and TikTok.
It will also make watching videos on the big screen in the living room more appealing, as there will be fewer interrupting ads. YouTube recently said that the majority of its viewing in the U.S. is now taking place on televisions, which has surpassed mobile devices and desktops.
Currently, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium subscriptions combined reach over 125 million users worldwide, the company said, including trials.
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Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.
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