YouTube is enhancing its Premium Lite subscription service with offline video downloads and background play, previously exclusive to the full Premium plan, in response to user feedback from a pilot program.
The Premium Lite plan, launched in March as a more affordable option at $7.99 per month, removes ads from “most” videos, including content in gaming, fashion, beauty, cooking, and news. However, it continues to display ads on music content and music videos and does not include access to the ad-free YouTube Music app. With the addition of offline downloads and background play, the primary difference between the Lite and full Premium tiers now lies in ad-free music content.
Initially available in Thailand, Germany, and Australia, Premium Lite expanded to the U.S. last year and is currently accessible in Canada, Brazil, the U.K., India, Mexico, and parts of Europe and Asia. The full Premium plan, priced at $13.99 per month, retains its exclusive features, including ad-free music content.
YouTube’s overall revenue, combining ads and subscriptions, reached $60 billion in 2025, according to Alphabet’s Q4 earnings report. The platform’s ad revenue grew 9% to $11.38 billion in the fourth quarter, while revenue for the “subscriptions, platforms and devices” group rose 17% to $13.6 billion, driven by growth in YouTube subscriptions.
As of March 2025, Alphabet reported over 125 million YouTube Music and Premium users worldwide. By the end of Q4, the company had more than 325 million paid subscriptions across its consumer services, including YouTube Premium and Google One.
