YouTube is expanding its more affordable Premium Lite subscription service with new features. The $7.99 per month plan will now include the ability to download videos for offline access and to watch videos in the background, even with the screen off or while using other apps. These features were previously exclusive to the full YouTube Premium plan, which costs $13.99 per month.
The company stated these additions are a direct result of user feedback. Customers in the pilot program shared that these specific features would make the Lite subscription more attractive.
YouTube Premium Lite launched last March as a more modestly priced tier that removes ads from “most” videos on the platform, including popular categories like gaming, fashion, beauty, cooking, and news. However, ads continue to be shown on music content and music videos, and Lite plan customers do not have access to the ad-free YouTube Music app.
With these new features, ad-free music content becomes the primary remaining reason to upgrade to the full Premium subscription. This update will likely make the Lite tier more appealing to customers who wanted more than just ad-free viewing but were hesitant to pay the higher price.
The Lite subscription tier was first introduced in Thailand, Germany, and Australia before arriving in the U.S. last year. It is now available in many other global markets, including Canada, Brazil, the U.K., India, Mexico, and other parts of Europe and Asia.
YouTube’s subscription business has been growing steadily. Combined with advertising, YouTube’s overall revenue reached $60 billion in 2025, according to information shared by parent company Alphabet earlier this month. The company also reported that YouTube’s ad revenue increased 9% to $11.38 billion in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, revenue for the “subscriptions, platforms and devices” group increased 17% to $13.6 billion in Q4, which Alphabet attributed to strong growth in YouTube subscriptions, particularly YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
Alphabet reported more than 125 million YouTube Music and YouTube Premium users worldwide in March 2025. The company did not share an updated metric for those specific services during its recent Q4 earnings but stated it now has over 325 million paid subscriptions across its consumer services, which include YouTube Premium and others like Google One.