After 1,400 hours watched I can not surrender this streaming service

I watch YouTube greater than some other streaming platform. You title it — Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Max — none of them beat the period of time I spend watching YouTube movies. I grew up throughout the YouTube growth within the late 2000s, and at this level, YouTube has been part of my life longer than it hasn’t. There are such a lot of creators I watch on the platform now, and so many new attention-grabbing movies on a regular basis, that leaving appears unimaginable — and so does canceling YouTube Premium.

Two years in the past, I sat within the airport with my pal, making ready for a red-eye flight from Toronto to London. I used to be downloading films to look at offline on the flight from Prime Video when my pal requested me: Why do not you get YouTube Premium to obtain movies to look at offline? Till then, the considered subscribing to YouTube Premium had miraculously by no means crossed my thoughts. I swiftly listened to his recommendation, subscribed, and downloaded virtually seven hours of YouTube movies to look at on the flight.

Since then, I have been a loyal subscriber to YouTube Premium for the previous two years. It is turn out to be an important service for me, and it is arduous to think about not having it now.

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No adverts is the icing on the cake

I’ve watched over a thousand hours of ad-free movies

Pocket-lint / YouTube

After I first subscribed to YouTube Premium, the very first thing on my thoughts was getting the flexibility to obtain movies for offline use. But it surely wasn’t till I acquired house from my journey to London that I spotted how wonderful it was to don’t have any adverts on YouTube anymore. Up to now, there have been so many situations the place I might click on off a video as a result of I acquired an annoyingly lengthy advert. Since I’ve gotten Premium, these days are lengthy gone. And leaping between movies till I discover one thing attention-grabbing to look at is a lot simpler with out adverts.

Some individuals argue that Premium is pointless attributable to advert blockers, however if you happen to do not use an advert blocker or typically entry YouTube on a tool that does not assist them, like your cellphone or TV, the worth of Premium will increase considerably. Moreover, with Premium, you are supporting YouTube creators who make investments their time and assets into producing significant content material. Moreover, YouTube is taking a robust stance in opposition to advert blockers, so only a few of them operate successfully anymore.

The worth of YouTube Premium really is dependent upon how a lot you employ the service. I do not subscribe to cable TV, and YouTube is the place I devour probably the most video content material on-line, so for me, it is price paying the $14 month-to-month price. The opposite day, I checked out my YouTube Premium dashboard for the primary time this yr, and it greeted me with a startling statistic. Since subscribing to YouTube Premium, I’ve watched almost 1,400 hours of ad-free movies.

To do the maths, 1,400 hours of watch time equates to 58 days of watching movies. Which means I’ve spent virtually two months watching ad-free movies since I first subscribed 24 months in the past. That statistic alone made me understand that out of all the opposite streaming companies I subscribe to, notably Disney+ and Prime Video proper now, that YouTube was the one I acquired probably the most worth from, and satirically sufficient, it is the service that does not even technically require a subscription to look at it within the first place.

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I concern a YouTube Premium worth hike

YouTube ought to add a mid-tier Premium subscription

The final time YouTube Premium acquired a worth hike was in the summertime of 2023, when it went up $2 a month from $12 to $14. I used to be indignant at this hike, however I handled it since I loved the ad-free expertise and the offline downloads, as I traveled fairly a bit in 2023 and 2024. Nevertheless, I concern what’s going to occur if YouTube Premium will get one other worth hike. If it does, relying on its severity, it’ll turn out to be more durable to justify the value of the service. It is already on the steeper finish now, contemplating it is simply an ad-free expertise with a number of unique quality-of-life options. However a brand new choice will quickly be on the desk.

YouTube just lately introduced its revival of Premium Lite, which can quickly be out there within the US and prices $8 a month. Nevertheless, for some odd cause, it’s not but out there for buy. Premium Lite is claimed to supply “most movies ad-free.” Advertisements will nonetheless be on music movies, some Shorts, and the YouTube Music service. The additional options, equivalent to offline downloads and background play, will not be included. Primarily, it simply provides an ad-free expertise with none further perks.

In case you don’t care in regards to the additional premium perks, I might one hundred pc advocate Premium Lite to most customers. However I rely an excessive amount of on downloads and background play to forgo them myself. I discover background play extremely helpful for listening to movies within the automotive, like podcasts or different audio content material I can not get on platforms like Spotify. I want there have been a mid-tier YouTube Premium plan that provided ad-free movies, offline downloads, and background play with out together with YouTube Music. I already subscribe to Spotify and have not used YouTube Music throughout the two years I’ve had ad-free entry, so I am paying for part of the service I by no means use. I might gladly swap to a extra reasonably priced mid-tier Premium subscription that excludes YouTube Music.

At the moment, YouTube Premium is a subscription that I discover arduous to surrender. After watching 1,360 hours of ad-free movies over the previous two years, I really feel there isn’t a turning again now. The worth is steep at $14 per thirty days, and a mid-tier choice between Premium Lite and Premium would enchantment extra to somebody like me. However for now, I discover the service so invaluable that I am going to let YouTube hold taking my cash, however admittedly, if YouTube tries to lift the value once more, I might need to re-evaluate issues.

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