YouTube Premium turns 2: Is it worth it?
It has been two years since YouTube Premium launched . First known as YouTube Red, the service is now bundled with YouTube Music Premium and offers a bunch of perks for a better viewing and listening experience. However, even though it is its two-year anniversary, YouTube Premium hasn’t exactly exploded in popularity. The relentless sign up pop ups certainly didn’t help, but there are solid arguments in favor of subscribing.
So, if you are yet to give Premium a try, we are here to tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly about YouTube Premium.
What is YouTube Premium?
YouTube is the largest video-sharing platform on the web with plenty of free content for your viewing pleasure. So, why is there a premium version and what does it offer?
YouTube Premium is the platform’s paid subscription service. Here is everything you get for the price of $11.99 per month:
Ad-free videos — no annoying ad-breaks on any content on any device logged into your Premium account.
Background play — you can listen to long videos, podcasts and music with your screen locked.
Offline playback — you can download videos for later offline viewing.
YouTube Music Premium — ad-free access to the dedicated music app and its catalog of millions of songs.
YouTube Originals — ad-free Originals and access to exclusive Premium content.
As you can see, YouTube Premium has a lot to offer. But are the perks as good as they are on paper, and is the price justified?
The good stuff
If you regularly watch content on YouTube, most Premium subscription perks are as good as they sound. To start off, it is hard to understate how great the ad-free experience is. Many of us use ad blockers on our PCs, but advertisements are much harder to escape on mobile. With the implementation of double pre-roll and unskipabble ads, YouTube Premium’s ad-free experience is pretty much a necessity for anyone that spends a significant amount of time on the platform.
Watching your favorite creators on the big screen of your TV when casting or using the smart TV app is also a lot more pleasant without constant interruptions. The experience is truly ad-free too: this means no trailers for YouTube originals or anything of the sort.
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