YouTube’s long-rumoured Premium Lite tier may be coming (for real this time). For those who find YouTube too similar to a digital Times Square, the video-sharing platform already features a Premium tier devoid of ads, and tacks on YouTube Music as a bonus. But if the rumours of a new ‘Lite’ tier (courtesy of Bloomberg) are true, it may signal the company’s commitment to more cost-effective tiers for users.
YouTube Premium Lite years ahead
Suggestions of the Premium Lite tier’s arrival have been circling since last year when it began experimenting (again) with the idea of new tiers to draw more users in, particularly Premium Lite, in several countries: Australia, Germany, and Thailand. But Google’s been quiet ever since, until now. Bloomberg claims YouTube will soon roll out Premium Lite more broadly in those same countries and the States, before targeting a global release.
“As part of our commitment to provide our users with more choice and flexibility, we’ve been testing a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free in several of our markets,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re hoping to expand this offering to even more users in the future with our partners’ support.”
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The upcoming Premium Lite tier is said to be geared toward users who want Premium access without extras like YouTube Music and music videos. Google does state that “most” videos would be “ad-free”, though failed to divulge any further details. It’s still unclear how committed Google is to offering multiple tiers. The company will likely want to see how this experiment fares among consumers before introducing more.
The new Premium Lite tier should at least help Google monetise its audience more effectively, most of which still consume the platform’s content for free with ads. It may even change how the service dishes out payments to creators, possibly offering compensation from Premium revenue on top of ad revenue.
Details on costs are still unknown, though it’s safe to assume Lite will be cheaper than the regular Premium tier. The service is expected to launch soon, though no concrete date has been set.
