YouTube launches a $7.99 per month, ad-free Premium Lite subscription

YouTube on Wednesday announced a new premium subscription tier called Premium Lite, which will users to watch “most” videos ad-free for $7.99 per month. With YouTube Lite, customers will be able to watch videos across verticals like gaming, fashion, beauty, cooking, news, and more, ad-free, but will be shown ads on music content and music videos. As an entry-level subscription, the new tier won’t offer several benefits in the full YouTube Premium ($13.99 per month) subscription like downloads, background play, or the ability to watch music videos ad-free. The addition to YouTube’s subscription lineup was leaked last month by Bloomberg. It’s been piloted in Thailand, Germany, and Australia, YouTube says, and will now be open to users in the U.S. The subscription will also be offered to all users in the pilot markets in the weeks ahead. YouTube says it will expand Premium Lite to more markets over the coming months, initially as pilots. The expansion serves as a way for YouTube to ge ... Read full article.