YouTube will launch a new lower-cost subscription tier, as the platform reaches 125 million subscribers worldwide.
Premium Lite allows users to watch most videos without advertisements, though it does not cover music and will not support downloading videos. It will cost US$7.99 per month, compared with its $13.99 full premium tier.
“Since launching YouTube Music and Premium, we've focused on giving subscribers a variety of ways to enjoy their favorite content, and Premium Lite is the latest step in that evolution,” said Jack Greenberg, director of product management at YouTube Premium.
“YouTube Music and Premium, and the expansion of Premium Lite, also continue to create additional revenue opportunities for our creators and partners.”
As well as the United States, Premium Lite will roll out in Australia, Germany, and Thailand in the coming weeks.
YouTube said it now has 125 million subscribers across its YouTube Music and YouTube Premium plans, including both paid users and those with a free trial. The platform reached the 100 million mark in February 2024.
It is also the most frequently used service for podcast listening in the U.S., the company said last week. YouTube’s podcasts have more than 1 billion monthly active viewers worldwide.
Advertising on YouTube raised US$10.47 billion in revenue last quarter, parent company Alphabet reported, rising from $9.2 billion year-over-year.
The platform is “investing heavily in AI tools” for its next stage of growth, YouTube’s Global Head of Music Lyor Cohen said. YouTube will integrate Google’s Veo 2 artificial intelligence model into its Dream Screen feature, which generates backgrounds for YouTube Shorts videos.
Alphabet’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) share price closed at US$174.99, up from its previous close at $172.61. Its market capitalisation is $2.12 trillion.
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