YouTube’s rumoured Premium Lite plan has once again leaked online. The plan has been rumoured to be coming to the service for a while now. I remember reporting on the original information back in early 2024, but Google just never got around to sharing any details about it.
Now, Bloomberg of all places claims that YouTube Premium Lite is gearing up to launch in select territories before rolling out globally. At launch, the service will be available in the United States, Germany, and Thailand.
The YouTube Premium Lite plan targets subscribers who want to pay for an ad-free YouTube experience but don’t make use of YouTube Music or watch music videos. The report doesn’t state what price this new tier will sit at, but given its “lite” label, it will definitely be cheaper than the main service.
YouTube has already tested out this new plan in certain regions. Back in 2021, the company rolled it out in a very limited selection of EU regions, but the service was cancelled in 2023. Back in October, Google openly stated that it was looking at different versions of YouTube Premium to cater to new users.
One of these “different versions” is a paid tier with limited ads. Meaning, you’ll get fewer ads than usual. However, we don’t know where that plan went or if Google has any plans to implement it.
The report claims that YouTube Premium Lite is almost ready to launch in select countries. There’s no exact date tied to this launch, but it sounds like it could be any day now. Keep in mind that it will release in a staggered rollout at first. So in South Africa, we will unlikely get it at the same time. But let’s hope it arrives in a timely manner.
Source: Bloomberg
