YouTube is increasing the ad exposure for Premium Lite subscribers, with notifications sent out indicating that ads will now appear on Shorts, music content, and during browsing, starting June 30, 2025. While most regular video content will still be ad-free, those heavily using music or Shorts will experience the most disruption. Initially introduced as a cheaper ad-free alternative at $7.99, Premium Lite's evolving ad policy highlights YouTube's ongoing struggle with user satisfaction regarding ads and monetization strategies amidst growing competition in the streaming market.
Even though YouTube Music subscription numbers aren't the best, YouTube itself continues to be one of the Internet's most popular music streaming services, so the change will likely affect quite a few people.
When it was introduced, Premium Lite was billed as a way to remove the ads from "most videos" for $7.99 per month, which is just over half the price of the full $13.99 YouTube Premium subscription.
The streaming giant went to war on ad blockers in 2024, making ads as difficult as possible to block. In addition, ads have slowly gotten longer and more plentiful on the free version of the service.
We are writing to let you know that beginning 30 June 2025, ads may appear on Shorts, in addition to music content and when you search or browse.
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