"I’m not paying for this either": Users troll YouTube amid reports of a ‘Premium Lite’ subscription in the works

YouTube is tinkering with its subscription lineup. This time, it’s the renewal of YouTube Premium Lite, the budget-friendly ad-free(ish) experience that originally popped up in 2021, only to be axed in 2023.

As per Bloomberg, it's making a return with some tweaks. Users can get an ad-free YouTube experience. Kind of.

The new Premium Lite allows you to wave goodbye to ads on all but music content. That's right, your in-depth explorations of conspiracy theories, recipe videos, and hour-long white noise loops will be blissfully uninterrupted.

But you can't escape ads when streaming music because YouTube has bills to pay, too.

So, who is this for? Well, if you’re the kind of person who only opens YouTube for long-form content, tutorials, and life hacks but doesn’t care about downloading videos or playing them in the background while working, this one’s got your name on it.

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Social media reactions

Social media is straight-up losing it over YouTube’s latest budget-friendly scheme to make users cough up cash. The internet’s clapbacks are hence way more creative than YouTube’s actual plan.

One X user joked:

"I’m not paying for this either"

This user actually said Nice try, but I’d rather suffer for free.

Another user added:

"Paying for “less” ads is crazy"

As per this user, YouTube is just making up problems to sell the solution.

One user took a virtual oath stating:

"I don’t care how cheap it becomes there’s no way I’m paying for YouTube"

The stubbornness to not pay for YouTube out of principle.

A user says:

"I regret ever giving google any money at all."

This is a level of buyer’s remorse that only Google can inspire.

One user thinks:

"This is just going to be an excuse to raise the price of normal Premium"

Meanwhile, this user has already seen the plot twist.

A user simply said:

"Just gonna watch the ads and skip…"

Bro just accepted their fate.

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Where’s YouTube Premium Lite rolling out and how much is it?

In the meantime, the fortunate winners of this YouTube test are the United States, Australia, Germany, and Thailand. If you are living somewhere else, you have to wait.

Regarding the price, the old Premium Lite was set at €6.99 monthly in Europe, which was a more affordable option compared to the YouTube Premium.

The precise cost of this return hasn't been announced yet, but it should fall somewhere below the complete Premium price.

And if history repeats itself in the tech industry, prices will vary based on where you reside.

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What about the creators?

With a less expensive, ad-light subscription tier now available, the monetization scene could change.

Less dependence on ad dollars might mean that creators begin trending even further into sponsorships, brand partnerships, and repeating more of Don't forget to like this video and hit the bell icon.

All this is part of the industry trend of outshining traditional advertising models.

Since ads are irritating, consumers will pay to get rid of them. The question is to figure out how much users are willing to pay.