YouTube’s cheaper ad-free tier challenges Netflix and Max, could cannibalize higher tier

The news: YouTube launched a second, less-expensive ad-free subscription tier, boosting its efforts to compete in the streaming market.

  • Premium Lite lets users watch most YouTube videos without ads for $7.99 per month, which the company said will create more revenue opportunities for creators and partners.
  • It doesn’t offer some of the benefits included with a full Premium subscription—which costs $13.99 per month—such as background play, offline downloads, and ad-free music videos.