Now, imagine. Pay for YouTube Premium Lite and feel like you can avoid ads, then lock your phone in the middle of the video and everything stops.
This has been a quiet frustration among Premium Lite subscribers since the plan was first launched. It looks like YouTube has actually received enough complaints to do something about it.
Long-requested feature released
Background play and offline downloads will be available on Premium Lite starting February 24th. Yes, there are two features that should have been there from the beginning. The situation is like this now.
Premium Lite has always been positioned as a budget-friendly middle ground that’s cheaper than full Premium but still ad-free for most content. The problem was that it felt strangely creaky.
No background playback means the video dies the moment you switch apps. No downloads mean you’re stuck buffering due to unreliable airport Wi-Fi connections like it’s 2012. That’s not a very good argument.
Premium not yet complete
YouTube said it expanded its Premium Lite pilot to more countries last year and is starting to listen to users who want more. So here it is.
But one thing worth noting is that YouTube draws a hard line. That means music videos and YouTube Music content are still tied to a full premium subscription.
So even if you use YouTube as your temporary Spotify, Lite doesn’t support it. But trying to watch a video essay in the background while everyone else does the dishes? This is a significant upgrade.
The rollout begins now and will spread to all Premium Lite markets over the coming weeks. Not a bad Tuesday for budget-conscious YouTube fans.