If paying to remove the two, three, or sometimes ten ads before a YouTube video wasn’t enough, YouTube’s latest tests indicate that it could be considering locking 4K videos behind a paywall. Over the weekend, several Redditors and Twitter users noted that YouTube had asked them to upgrade to Premium to watch videos with the 2160p option enabled.
4K-ing Hell
So, after testing up to 12 ads on YouTube for non-Premium users, now some users reported that they also have to get a Premium account just to watch videos in 4K. pic.twitter.com/jJodoAxeDp
— Alvin (@sondesix) October 1, 2022
Now, we aren’t sure if this is something that will be sticking around forever. YouTube claims that the users experiencing this change are part of YouTube’s “experiment to know better the feature preferences [between] Premium & non-Premium viewers.”
The initial tests haven’t produced enough data (for anyone other than YouTube) to know who the proposed ‘feature’ will target. It might be the case that it only affects certain countries, specific devices, or if it’s something creators have control over.
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As it stands, Premium users currently pay for an ad-free experience, Music and experimental features. This could just be another way to annoy free users into giving in and paying the R70/m. After the debacle a few weeks ago, when users started receiving 9-12 unskippable ads, it’s definitely something we could see the platform doing.
Source: Engadget