What is YouTube Premium and how does it work?

YouTube is the great democratizer of what we watch, no matter where we do it. You’ll find produced plays, video essays, and calliopes of slapstick and remixes to suit your every last desire of the moment. With all the minutes of video uploaded to it every second, it’s no surprise that YouTube has the most minutes watched out of all the major streaming services, according to Nielsen.

No doubt, then, you’ve become familiar with all the ads you’ll have seen before, during, and after all the videos you’ve watched for free on the platform. It’s not enough that you have the five-second skippable ads, but the unskippable thirties, too. If you’re tired of dancing your mouse around to avoid the wait, you might want to think about signing up for YouTube Premium. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

What is YouTube Premium?

In 2014, Google began offering a paid subscription service called Music Key that let fans stream music from participating labels on Google Play Music and watch music videos on YouTube without commercials. That ad-free privilege expanded to all videos on the platform with the launch of YouTube Red in 2015.

As of 2024, YouTube Premium is available in 110 markets, giving viewers an ad-free experience along with extra features across YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Gaming, and YouTube Kids.

What features does YouTube Premium offer?

The main draw of YouTube Premium is the removal of commercials from the viewing experience — it means less downtime watching the unskippable ads, and less hassle from jumping to click the Skip Ad button after the timer counts down. If you’re wondering about whether content creators receive revenue from viewers with YouTube Premium, the situation is a bit complicated, but they ultimately do.

YouTube also used to commission and produce original content for YouTube Red and YouTube Premium. While that content is still available to watch, you won’t see much new content — now dubbed YouTube Originals — posted up for Premium-exclusive viewing these days. Some series, such as Rhett & Link’s “Buddy System,” have been made free to watch for ad-supported viewers.

Wherever your Google account is signed in, you’ll be able to watch YouTube without ads and take advantage of other special features. Most of the big ones serve those on phones and tablets and they include:

• Background play — If you leave the YouTube app or lock your phone, you’ll still be able to have the audio of the video you’ve been watching run in the background.
• Downloads — No need for external apps to keep your favorite videos on your phone when the YouTube app will let you do it there. That said, you’ll need to connect to the internet at least once a month to keep videos downloaded within the app.
• Smart Downloads — Based on your watch history and a little black box algorithmic magic, the app will download several videos in the background and keep them around for you to be able to watch while you’re disconnected from the internet.
• Video queues on mobile — A feature that you can use for free on the web and the TV app, the ability to queue up videos for continuous sequential viewing on mobile is only available with YouTube Premium.

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Other features workable on more devices include:

• YouTube Music — You’ll also get ad-free listening to everything on YouTube Music. Well, except for podcasts that have ads baked into them some way.
• Try experimental features — YouTube will debut different experiences that it’s been testing internally with Premium users first. You can take a look and toggle them on at youtube.com/new. Some recent examples as reported by Android Police include AI-generated comment section summaries and in-app mini-games called Playables — the latter has become a permanent feature of Premium.
• Afterparties — Sometimes, YouTube will partner with artists to host a livestream session called Afterparties, usually after a music video debut. You’ll find these within the YouTube page detailing all of your Premium benefits as well as your home feed on occasion.
• 1080p Premium — This special resolution setting doesn’t make it more “full HD” than it can be pixel-wise, but it does allow for playback at a higher bitrate. That means more data to handle fast-moving scenes with higher fidelity and less compression.
• Co-watch on Google Meet –If you use Google Meet for video conferences, you, as a Premium subscriber, can start a YouTube watch session for the entire room.

What won’t YouTube Premium get you?

YouTube Premium covers a lot of the individual experiences on YouTube and YouTube Music. However, if you’re interacting with creators by becoming a paying member of a channel or sending Super Stickers and Super Chats during their live streams or video premieres, you’re paying out of pocket for those transactions separate from your Premium subscription fee.

Most movies and all Prime time streaming channels (via Android Police) on offer in YouTube’s catalog also require separate purchases or subscriptions. And YouTube Premium is most certainly not YouTube TV — over there, you’re paying way more for a high-tech cable subscription package.

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How much is YouTube Premium?

Music Key started off as an $8 per month subscription. By the time YouTube Red came around, the price was bumped up to $10. At some point in between, the standard monthly rate went up to $12.

Nowadays, you’ll pay depending on the membership type that matches your specific needs. See the 2024 pricing table below, and note that for a family membership, it is good for up to six members total, aged 13 or over.

Yes, YouTube is not immune to the hiking trends of the wider streaming industry. In North America and a number of other countries (see this YouTube Help page), you can also pay for a year’s individual membership — that means students and families are excluded — at the cost of 10 months. Just note that it’s non-renewing and is not eligible for a partial refund.

By default, YouTube offers a one-month free trial for Premium, but you’ll be able to find other places on Google’s services, such as Google One or even through a Discord Nitro subscription, where, if you haven’t signed up for YouTube Premium before, you can redeem a free subscription for three months or, in the case of Google Fi back in 2022, up to a year (via Android Police).

Where do I sign up for YouTube Premium?

Head to youtube.com/premium if you’re on the web. Using a phone, open the YouTube app, tap your account avatar in the top-right corner and select Get YouTube Premium. Follow the instructions provided. You’ll be charged via Google’s Play Billing system, so your purchase is eligible for Google Play Points.