You Tube Premium’s cheapest tier just got better — with background play and downloads | Tech Radar

Overview

You Tube Premium’s cheapest tier just got better — with background play and downloads

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Details

You Tube is adding downloads and background play to its Premium Lite plan

It's the first upgrade to the Premium Lite plan since its inception last year

Music fans will still have to upgrade however, as ad-free music videos are still paywalled into the Premium Plan

You Tube locks tons of features behind the walls of its rather pricey Premium tier, but now it’s bringing a few of them over to its more affordable Premium Lite plan.

The platform announced on its blog that offline downloads and background play are both being integrated into You Tube Premium Lite, and are being rolled out now. This is a big upgrade; when You Tube launched Premium Lite in March 2025, it offered ad-free viewing for most videos (with the exception of music videos and music content) and not much else. Premium Lite subscribers don’t get the You Tube Music perk, either.

Until now, the only way subscribers could view all videos ad-free was by signing up to the full-price You Tube Premium plan for

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“Last year, we expanded our Premium Lite pilot to more markets​ and heard feedback about wanting these additional features included in the service. ​We're excited for today's update and to continue testing and building products that best meet our users’ needs,” the You Tube team shared in its announcement.

Going forward, the You Tube Premium Lite experience will give you an even bigger taste of what the standard plan has to offer. For most people who just want to enjoy mostly ad-free viewing and now the added benefits of downloads and background play on most videos, You Tube Premium Lite will be the ideal option, and the next step is to roll out a Premium Lite Family plan to give households a more affordable alternative.

That’s not the reason why I’m still more attracted to the standard You Tube Premium plan, though.

I’ve been eyeing up a You Tube Premium subscription for quite a while now, and though I’ve come close to it many times, for some reason I always pull myself back. For the most part You Tube Premium Lite is the ideal plan, but leaving out ad-free music videos is a bit of a kick in the teeth. That said, I know exactly why You Tube does this.

As far as the best music streaming services go, You Tube Music is no match to Spotify or Apple Music on the features and popularity front. However, it has the edge over its competitors with one particular thing: music videos.

I’ve tested Spotify’s music video ecosystem many times, and despite being a subscriber for the last decade, I can see it doesn’t even come close to what You Tube has to offer with music videos. It’s all over the place, and the way videos appear in the playback page is quite unflattering. I’m not the only one who thinks so, and Spotify music videos have been at the center of heated discussions since their inception.

I hate "listening" to music videos :( from r/truespotify

I think I speak on behalf of many music fans when I say that, despite being subscribed to audio streaming platforms that aren’t You Tube Music, we still revert to the standard You Tube app for the visual elements, whether that’s for music videos or live performances. So the fact that You Tube has identified and paywalled this advantage is no surprise whatsoever — it’s just frustrating to know that the Premium temptation is inevitable.

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Rowan is an Editorial Associate and Apprentice Writer for Tech Radar. A recent addition to the news team, he is involved in generating stories for topics that spread across Tech Radar's categories. His interests in audio tech and knowledge in entertainment culture help bring the latest updates in tech news to our readers.

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Key Takeaways

• You Tube Premium’s cheapest tier just got better — with background play and downloads

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• You Tube is adding downloads and background play to its Premium Lite plan

• It's the first upgrade to the Premium Lite plan since its inception last year

• Music fans will still have to upgrade however, as ad-free music videos are still paywalled into the Premium Plan