YouTube is testing its cheaper Premium Lite subscription again, but it now has limited ads

Last year, YouTube axed Premium Lite, its cheaper version of YouTube Premium, but the company has been testing a new version of the subscription in Australia, Germany, and Thailand, YouTube confirmed to Android Authority.

The company confirmed the tests to The Verge as well, with spokesperson Jessica Gibby saying that it has been testing a “different version” of the subscription with “some users in Australia, Germany and Thailand for several months (with the most recent one beginning in Australia at the start of this year).” Gibby adds that “we don’t have anything else to share in terms of a broader rollout at this time.”

According to a screenshot shared by singer-songwriter Jonah Manzano on Threads, the Premium Lite subscription in Australia costs $8.99 AUD per month on the web, or slightly less than half of the $16.99 AUD cost for the full version of Premium. On iOS, the costs are $11.99 AUD for Premium Lite and $22.99 AUD for Premium, according to another screenshot from Manzano.

While the previous version of Premium Lite had no ads on YouTube and YouTube kids, this new version has limited ads instead. In a footnote, YouTube writes that ads may appear on “music content and Shorts” and users might see “non-interruptive ads when you search and browse.”

The rubric in the screenshot also shows that this version of Premium Lite doesn’t offer ad-free access to YouTube Music, the ability to download and play videos offline, or the ability to listen to videos in the background, which also weren’t available with the old Premium Lite.

YouTube initially began piloting Premium Lite in parts of Europe in 2021.