YouTube’s new ‘Premium Lite’ plan skips the music

Google is gearing up to roll out a fresh YouTube subscription called Premium Lite, designed for people who don’t need music included. After some trial runs, a Bloomberg report says this plan will “soon” launch in the United States, Australia, Germany, and Thailand. It’s exciting to see the US on the list since no testing happened there before.

Premium Lite is perfect for folks who mostly watch stuff like podcasts or how-to videos, not music clips. Subscribers will enjoy a huge collection of content without pesky ads interrupting. So far, there’s no word on extras like downloading videos to watch offline or playing them with the screen off.

A top comment from Adrian Gibbs, liked by 23 people, says:

“I’ve got a bad feeling they’ll price this so close to the regular plan that it won’t feel like a deal. I might be too skeptical, but a fair price with no tricks seems unlikely. There’s got to be a catch—probably a big one.”

Here’s what’s clear: music videos will still have ads, and this plan won’t include YouTube Music access. So, Premium Lite is really about ad-free videos for those who already use another music app, like Spotify. Right now, YouTube Premium users often stick with YouTube Music since it’s part of their $13.99 monthly fee, while YouTube Music alone is $10.99. Premium Lite could shake things up by offering a cheaper way to skip video ads without bundling music.

The big question is how low the price will drop since Google won’t need to cover music costs. For anyone tired of ads but happy with their current music setup, this might be a handy option. Still, we’ll have to wait and see if it’s priced right—or if Adrian’s hunch about a sneaky catch comes true.