I’ve hovered over the sign-up button for YouTube Premium many times. While I subscribe to several of the best streaming services, YouTube is the video-viewing platform I use most, and by some distance. I watch YouTube pretty much all day long, whether I’m in the gym, in bed or just as background noise while working from home (Shout out to Asthenic for their brilliant Synthwave playlists, which always score my working day).
However, despite being a heavy YouTube user and even a YouTuber myself in my teenage years (I wisely deleted my terrible DVD unboxing videos long ago, so don’t go looking for them), I’ve never been tipped over the edge to sign up for Premium. That was until a couple of weeks back, when, during a late-night watching session, and after more than a few pints of Guinness, I got so frustrated with frequent mid-roll ads in a video I was enjoying, I decided, screw it, I’m signing up for a free trial.
I’ll admit my initial plan was to take the 30-day free trial and then most likely cancel, as the $13.99 per month fee felt a little too steep. However, after now having had access to YouTube with Premium benefits for a little while, I already know I can’t go back. YouTube Premium really does make using the juggernaut video-sharing platform a dramatically smoother experience, and I’ve also discovered it’s more than just ad-free watching.
Ad-free YouTube really is as awesome as it sounds
While there are more benefits to YouTube Premium than just watching videos without ads, let’s not beat around the bush: Uninterrupted viewing is the benefit that likely draws in most subscribers, at least initially. Getting frustrated with ads was what tipped me over the edge.
I’ve largely been able to tolerate ads when watching a longer YouTube video. Because the platform allows creators to select where mid-roll ads are placed, any creator who cares about their viewers' experience usually does a good job of inserting them as non-intrusively as possible. But even so, I can’t deny that being entirely free of them is a wonderful thing.
The biggest benefit of ad-free YouTube comes when hopping between shorter content. In the current YouTube landscape, it’s not uncommon to get unskippable 30-second ads on videos that are barely a couple of minutes long, which can become seriously frustrating very quickly.
As noted, I watch a lot of YouTube music compilations (this 10-hour loop of my favorite track from the Persona 5 soundtrack set over rain noise is another favourite), so the lack of mid-roll ads has been extra appreciated. Nothing kills my workflow more than when my chill background tunes suddenly turn to somebody trying to sell me cryptocurrency.
YouTube Premium offers more benefits than you might expect
Where YouTube Premium has also won me over is in all the other ostensibly "smaller" subscriber benefits. These seem like minor upgrades, but they all add up to make the user experience significantly better.
Being able to download videos to watch offline is a pretty nice perk. Granted, it’s not one I envisage using super often, but I signed up for Premium while visiting my family, who live a flight away in Northern Ireland, so it was nice to download a couple of videos for the journey home. Granted, I’m still more likely to download a Netflix show or movie.
The benefit I’ve found myself using the most has been “background play,” which allows you to carry on listening to YouTube content on your mobile device even when your screen is switched off.
I “watch” a lot of podcast-style videos, covering everything from Premier League soccer to the latest video game news, usually, if I wanted to listen to these while doing other stuff (like walking to the grocery store), I’d have to carefully place my phone in my pocket with the video still playing, but thanks to Premium that’s not an issue. Picture-in-Picture, another nifty feature, reduces the YouTube app to a small window while you do other stuff on your phone. It's similarly useful in specific circumstances.
Another perk that YouTube often flags is access to the separate YouTube Music platform, but as a dedicated Spotify user, I can’t say this one appeals to me. Nevertheless, my overall takeaway from using YouTube Premium for a couple of weeks is that there’s more to gain than just ad-free viewing. Even if there wasn’t, having now sampled ad-free YouTube, I can't go back to unskippable commercials and endlessly mid-rolls.
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