YouTube Premium Lite, The Tier Which was not Known by Many, Is Getting Removed

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 25 September 2023, 08:09 pm

Many people may not have known about YouTube's Premium Lite tier, and it is perfectly normal as the company did not make it widely available. However, it is now getting removed from the list of options for the streaming platform's subscriptions effective by the end of October, with the company only offering three tiers for the paid service in the selected European countries.

The Premium Lite users have enjoyed an extra special treatment for their subscription as it was the cheaper-priced tier, but now, it is going away amidst the many price hikes of the service.

YouTube Premium Lite is Getting Removed

(Photo : AFP via Getty Images)

The Verge reported that YouTube emailed customers under the Premium Lite tier, claiming that the service would cease to exist come October 25, which is a month from now, from its offers. Users under this service could get the Premium experience at a cheaper price, costing them only €6.99 or $7.41 per month and it already offers the best of the regular subscriptions.

Existing YouTube Premium Lite users have two options come next month, and either return to watching YouTube's free tier with ads or subscribe to the regular Premium which comes with YouTube Music.

Users who decide to get the regular Premium would be given a one-month free trial to experience it, and it would not matter if they had already used this freebie before.

Why was Premium Lite Unknown?

YouTube Premium's cost-effective Lite tier was unknown to many as it was an experimental subscription rate from the platform, only offered in select European countries including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

In its hey day, it offered an ad-free experience on the platform but did not have offline downloads, background playback, or access to YouTube Music. It was the essential ad-free experience, now going away for good.

YouTube Premium

Various changes have appeared for YouTube Premium, a service that promises uninterrupted streaming for all, along with extra perks that users pay to get, to get the best out of their experience. However, YouTube's Premium is also notorious for its price hikes, seeing one earlier this year, now costing users as much as $13.99 per month or roughly $168 per year.

Last October 2022, it also saw another price hike but was limited to the Family Plan tier, adding as much as $5 to the monthly fees.

One of the main features of Premium is the enhanced viewing experience where users can stream the video in 4Kor more if it is available from the uploader. Apart from that, there is also the 1080p Premium that brings a higher bitrate for the streams.

The subscription era is here, and almost all services are asking for regular monthly or yearly payments for their enhanced experience, among many tiers like YouTube Premium's offers. Now, YouTube's Premium Lite which has been a treat for its European users can no longer get the discounted offer come October 25.