Pulling The Plug on Premium Lite

Back in June, I blogged about the intrusive adverts that are infesting YouTube videos these days. While YouTube Premium offers ad-free viewing, it also includes the ability to watch content offline and stream music ad-free. However, it also comes at a hefty (in my view) price: €11.99 per month. I’m not prepared to pay that price.

Back in June, YouTube introduced a Premium Lite membership tier that made viewing YouTube content Ad-free. At €6.99 per month this was a proposition that was somewhat more attractive.

I decided that I would sign up for the trial, and after a month of blissfully watching content Ad-free, the experience was so pleasant that I decided that I would carry on paying for Premium Lite.

Alas, it was too good to last.

Last week I got the following email from Google:

Your Premium Lite membership will be discontinued

Hi Geoff, ‌ Thank you for being one of our first Premium Lite members. ‌

We’re writing to let you know that after 25 October 2023, we will no longer be offering your version of Premium Lite. While we understand that this may be disappointing news, we continue to work on different versions of Premium Lite as we incorporate feedback from our users, creators and partners. ‌

We will cancel your membership on 25 October 2023. Your Premium Lite benefits will expire at the end of your billing cycle and you will not be billed further. ‌

To show our appreciation, we’re offering a one-month trial of YouTube Premium (even if you’ve had a trial before). With YouTube Premium, you can watch videos ad-free, offline and in the background. Plus, stream music ad-free in the YouTube Music app. ‌ If you’d like to redeem this offer, you’ll need to cancel your Premium Lite membership or wait for it to be cancelled for you. ‌
You can find more information in the YouTube Help Centre. ‌

Kind regards,
The YouTube Premium team

Sorry, Google, but €11.99 per month is not an amount I’m prepared to pay for simply wanting to watch content without your damn adverts.

I’ll go back to cursing you and your adverts as from the 25th of October.

About Geoff Coupe

I'm a British citizen, although I have lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1983. I came here on a three year assignment, but fell in love with the country, and one Dutchman in particular, and so have stayed here ever since. On the 13th December 2006 I also became a Dutch citizen.

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