YouTube Premium

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YouTube Premium, previously known as Music Key and then YouTube Red, is a paid streaming subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. This service allows users to watch videos on YouTube without ads across the website and its mobile apps, including dedicated services such as YouTube Music and YouTube Kids.

The concept of premium content on YouTube began with the launch of film rentals in 2010, followed by premium, subscription-based channels in 2013. However, it was not until November 2014 that the service was rebranded as Music Key, offering only music streaming from participating labels on YouTube and Google Play Music.

In August 2016, YouTube Red support was added to the YouTube Kids app, further expanding the reach of the premium content platform. The following year, in June 2017, the service underwent a significant overhaul, with its name being changed to YouTube Premium alongside the return of a separate YouTube Music subscription service.

Today, YouTube Premium offers users unannounced streaming of all videos hosted on YouTube, exclusive original content produced in collaboration with leading creators, and offline playback capabilities. This allows subscribers to watch their favorite shows and movies without ads on the website and its mobile apps, including dedicated services such as YouTube Music and YouTube Kids. Additionally, users can record videos on their device to view them offline and play them in the background.

One of the key features of YouTube Premium is its exclusive original content, which includes movies and series produced by professional studios and YouTube personalities. For some series with multiple episodes, the first episode is available for free, while subsequent episodes require a subscription. The service also offers an unadvertised music broadcast via YouTube Music Premium and Google Play Music services.

In 2021, a new subscription version called YouTube Premium Lite was introduced in several countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden. This plan does not offer any advertising and is situated between the standard YouTube Premium service and free YouTube.

YouTube's chief business officer, Robert Kyncl, has emphasized that creating premium content requires a different kind of enterprise and skill set than what many prominent YouTubers have developed on a "shoestring budget." He notes that scaling up to meet the demands of a large audience necessitates storytelling and showrunning expertise.

In October 2023, YouTube announced the discontinuation of its YouTube Lite Premium plan.