Many YouTubers rely on the revenue they make each month off of AdSense, the feature that places ads in creators’ content and compensates them for the trouble. With that said, it might be alarming to find out that YouTube is working on making it easier for viewers to opt for ad-free viewing on the platform.
Now, YouTube is reportedly testing a more affordable version of its Premium subscription service, Premium Lite — which simply offers ad-free access to YouTube’s expansive library of videos.
With the full Premium subscription, viewers can download videos for offline viewing and have videos playing in the background, in addition to ad-free viewing. Premium Lite, meanwhile, cuts the original cost for Premium from $12 down to about $8.30. Ultimately, this makes free ad-viewing more of an option for people with stricter budgets.
While the service seems like it won’t be out for a while (it’s currently testing in Europe), we could see a wider release eventually. If and when it does become a fully available service, it could certainly spell trouble for creators.
What does this mean for YouTube creators?
While there’s no official word from YouTube about how creators will receive revenue when Premium Lite takes away ads, we can deduce the system will work similarly for how YouTube handles its Premium service. Currently, YouTube pays out some of the revenue that it makes from Premium subscriptions. It distributes the money evenly based on how much watch time creators gain from Premium subscribers. It’s another form of income, and a premium alternative to AdSense.
Likely, YouTube will dish out revenue made from Premium Lite in a similar way. The platform takes 45% of Premium and AdSense revenue. So, you can expect YouTube to take that amount (or something similar) out of Premium Lite revenue as well.
From the looks of it, Premium Lite shouldn’t be alarming for creators. We’ll see how it goes as YouTube’s tests wrap up in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.