Two New Features in YouTube Premium Lite Just Made the Pr...

What’s Happening

Alright so Unless you’re fr into YouTube Music, you probably don’t need to upgrade.

As Lifehacker has before argued , YouTube Premium is probably the best streaming service for most people. Ads can eat into your free time faster than you might realize, and because YouTube’s user-generated videos can be quite short, they’re especially annoying there and blocking them without a paid subscription is tough . (shocking, we know)

YouTube Premium is also a bit pricey as streaming services go, at $14/month.

The Details

Fortunately, the company also offers a “Premium Lite” plan that’s much cheaper and thanks to the recent addition of a few key features, it no longer pales in comparison to a full subscription. In fact, the $8/month YouTube Premium Lite may now be the best paid YouTube tier for most people.

YouTube Premium Lite is getting two of the more expensive tier’s best features Starting today, YouTube Premium Lite now offers both background play and download options on most videos, features that were before exclusive to a full YouTube Premium plan. The update is rn rolling out, so it might take a little bit for it to reach you, but the change essentially gives you parity with a full YouTube Premium plan on the vast majority of YouTube content.

Why This Matters

According to YouTube, the company has “heard feedback about wanting these additional features included in the service,” which prompted the change. You May Also Like Now, for the same $8/month price, you can get most of the full YouTube Premium experience, normally a $14/month value. You’ll still get ads when streaming music and music videos, hence the “most videos” disclaimer.

This is part of the broader shift happening across the tech industry right now.

The Bottom Line

Ads also “may appear when you search or browse,” but as for interruptions while watching non-music content? Credit: YouTube A full YouTube Premium account no longer makes sense for most users Essentially, unless you’re a big YouTube Music user, getting YouTube Premium Lite instead of a full-cost subscription is now a no-brainer.

Thoughts? Drop them below.