YouTube has been having a hard time trying to convince everyone to start paying and subscribe to the YouTube Premium Plan. In a bid to attract people, YouTube experimented with YouTube Premium Lite last year, which is a cheaper version of YouTube Premium, and it seems like the company is again testing a new version of the subscription in Australia, Germany and Thailand. YouTube has confirmed this development to Android Authority in a statement.
YouTube has confirmed these experiments to The Verge too. YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby said that the video streaming giant has been testing a “different version” of the subscription with “some users in Australia, Germany and Thailand for several months (with the most recent one beginning in Australia at the start of this year).” She added, “we don’t have anything else to share in terms of a broader rollout at this time.”
YouTube Premium Lite Price
According to a screenshot posted by singer-songwriter Jonah Manzano on Threads, the Premium Lite subscription in Australia is priced at $8.99 AUD per month for the web version, which is roughly half the cost of the full Premium subscription, priced at $16.99 AUD. On iOS, the prices are slightly higher, with Premium Lite costing $11.99 AUD, while the full Premium version is listed at $22.99 AUD, as shown in another screenshot from Manzano.
Previously, Premium Lite came with no ads on YouTube and YouTube Kids, but the updated version now includes some ads. According to YouTube, ads might appear on "music content and Shorts," and users may encounter “non-interruptive ads” while searching and browsing. The screenshot also reveals that this version of Premium Lite does not offer features like ad-free access to YouTube Music, offline downloads, or background playback, similar to the previous version of Premium Lite. YouTube first tested Premium Lite in select European countries in 2021.