YouTube Premium: Your complete guide to the ad-free streaming platform

YouTube has long been one of the most popular websites on the Internet, letting users share their own videos as well as watch content from other creators around the globe. While there were no signs of YouTube's popularity waning, in October 2015 it launched a premium service called YouTube Red, which offered users an ad-free experience and access to exclusive content for a small monthly fee.

The service was revamped and relaunched in June 2018 under the name YouTube Premium, alongside the fresh YouTube Music app - a powerful music streaming service. As part of the subscription, users get offline access to their favourite videos, as well as the ability to listen to videos with the screen off.

How much does YouTube Premium cost?

When YouTube Red originally launched in the US, it charged a monthly fee of US$10. When it arrived in Australia in 2016, its price translated to $11.99 per month, putting it in line with the likes of Netflix and Spotify.

After the YouTube Premium rebranding, the service upped the monthly price to $14.99/month. There’s also a Family Plan available at $22.99/month for up to six family members (yourself included).

First-time Premium customers can take advantage of a one-month free trial to see whether the service is worth it before spending a cent. Just remember that you'll be automatically charged if you don't cancel your subscription before your trial period ends, so keep an eye on the date if you're not loving the service.

Folks who signed up to YouTube Red prior to the Premium rebranding, meanwhile, can continue paying the reduced $11.99/$17.99 monthly rate as long as they stay subscribed.

What features does YouTube Premium offer?

Historically, YouTube has been an ad-supported platform that is free to use. So in order to entice people to pay a regular monthly fee, it needed to offer more than just an ad-free experience.

Fortunately, YouTube added a whole heap of features to YouTube Premium to make it a much more exciting proposition. Here's what you get for your $14.99 each month:

• Ad-free viewing

  For some people, this is going to be the most compelling aspect of YouTube Premium. One of the most frustrating elements of the YouTube experience is clicking play on a 20-second cat video and having to sit through a non-skippable 30-second TV commercial about something you don't care about. YouTube Premium does away with the ads, giving you direct access to the best content.

  There are a few exceptions, like paid channels or TV and movie purchases or rentals, but for the bulk of YouTube's billions of videos, YouTube Premium makes it an ad-free experience.

• Offline viewing

  Mobile users and frequent travellers will appreciate the ability to download a series of YouTube videos to watch offline. For a start, it gives you the ability to watch in situations where an Internet connection is impossible (like on a plane), as well as saving your precious mobile data for more important things.

  Parents will also appreciate the fact that YouTube Premium integrates with the YouTube Kids app (more on that below) which means you'll be able to fill your phone or iPad with episodes of Peppa Pig or kids' yoga classes for repeated viewing.

• Original programming

  YouTube not only made sharing videos easy, it also spawned a new way for content creators to find massive audiences and make money doing so. As part of YouTube Red, many of the most popular YouTubers created original content that is only available to subscribers - a feature that lives on within YouTube Premium.

  While the list of YouTube originals is constantly growing, here's some of the shows that helped launch the service.

  Title	Description	YouTuber
  360 Project from MatPat of Game Theory	Pop culture theorist, MatPat, uses virtual reality to explore the real-world science behind the video games we play.	MatPat
  A Trip to Unicorn Island	A feature-length movie that follows Lilly Singh on a tour across 26 cities.	Astronauts Wanted and Lilly Singh
  I am Tobuscus	A scripted comedy that follows a self-centred web celebrity in his pursuit for universal acclaim.	Toby Turner
  Fight of the Living Dead	A social experiment/reality show that takes YouTube stars and places them in terrifying zombie apocalypse simulations.	Alpine Labs
  Lazer Team	A feature-length scripted comedy where four no-hopers unwittingly find themselves aboard an alien ship fighting a battle to save Earth.	Rooster Teeth and Fullscreen Films
  Scare PewDiePie	Skybound Entertainment (The Walking Dead) produces this reality-adventure series, where YouTube celebrity PewDiePie is put in horrifying situations straight out of the video games he plays.	PewDiePie
  Sing It!	Another scripted comedy that parodies talent shows like American Idol, X Factor etc.	Fine Brothers Entertainment
  Single by 30	This romantic dramedy features Harry Shum Jr (Glee) and musician Kina Grannis who uphold a high-school promise to marry each other if they’re both still single at 30.	Harry Shum Jr and Kina Grannis
  Untitled Collegehumor project	By the folks over at Collegehumor, this anthology series is a black comedy that analyses ridiculous Internet culture.	Collegehumor
  Untitled Joey Graceffa project	In this “murder mystery” reality series hosted by Joey Graceffa, YouTube stars must form alliances to solve a new mystery each episode.	Joey Graceffa

  Moreover, YouTube also started to invest in original series – most notably nostalgia-infused reboot Cobra Kai and kooky sitcom Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television.

• Play videos with the screen off

  With its massive library of music videos, it's no surprise that YouTube is also one of the most popular music streaming platforms around. For regular users wanting to listen to music through YouTube on a mobile device, watching the video is mandatory – the screen has to remain on and you can't multitask with other apps.

  YouTube Premium allows users to listen to videos in the background, either by turning off the screen or by leaving the audio running while browsing another app. This functionality, when coupled with the ad-free playback environment, can be great if you're looking to simply listen to videos while playing a game, for instance.

• YouTube Music

  Speaking of music, YouTube Premium also includes a free subscription to the freshly redesigned YouTube Music app. You’ll be able to listen to millions of songs without ads, with the screen off. Moreover, users get personalized recommendations based on their history and preferences and can enjoy a powerful smart search function.

• Bundled Google Music subscription

  Signing up for YouTube Premium means you get full access to Google Play Music's subscription service as well. That includes access to over 35 million songs, the ability to upload 50,000 of your own tracks and Google Play Music's radio functionality.

  There’s been a lot of chatter following the relaunch of YouTube Music concerning the future of Google Play Music, but it looks like the two services will continue to co-exist for a while. However, Google will likely choose to focus solely on YouTube Music moving forward. If you were an existing Red subscriber at the launch of Premium, no worries – everything will stay the same. You'll still be able to access all of your purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music just like always.

• Integration with the YouTube Kids and YouTube Gaming apps

  As we've already alluded to, YouTube Premium works across all the YouTube apps, so gamers and parents with kids will be able to access content ad-free via those applications, as well as download clips for offline viewing.

What devices does YouTube Premium support?

YouTube Premium works on a large number of YouTube compatible devices, including mobiles, TVs and game consoles. Some of the most popular devices are:

Do I have to sign up for YouTube Premium?

The good news is that YouTube Premium is an entirely optional premium service. For those unwilling to pay the $14.99 per month, YouTube's traditional ad-supported platform is still available to everyone. There is some premium content that you won't be able to access, but just as with other streaming video platforms like Netflix and Stan, the decision to subscribe to get access to those programs depends on your personal taste and whether you can justify the expense to watch them.

So why would I want YouTube Premium? Is it worth it?

There are two big questions you need to ask yourself before signing up for YouTube Premium. The first is whether you think getting an ad-free YouTube service is worth the price. The second is whether you want to watch any of that exclusive YouTube Premium content. If either of those questions made you answer yes, then YouTube Premium's $14.99 monthly fee should be a no-brainer.

The other big reason to sign up for YouTube Premium is the bundled subscription to YouTube Music Premium. By itself, it may not be your service of choice when choosing between the likes of Spotify or Apple Music, but if suddenly you get ad-free YouTube videos and the ability to watch videos offline? That's a significant perk that no other music streaming service comes close to matching.

A short history of YouTube

Of course, there's more to YouTube than just YouTube Red. It's worth taking the time to understand the origins of one of the Internet's most popular sites.

YouTube was founded in 2005 by three young friends who had met working for PayPal. Headquartered above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant, the three friends worked on developing the site using US$3.5 million that they obtained through a venture firm, Sequoia Capital.

The very first video uploaded to YouTube was on 23 April 2005. Titled "Me at the Zoo", it featured one of the co-founders at the San Diego Zoo. By the summer of 2006, YouTube had become one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet, and Sequoia Capital, along with Artis Capital, invested an additional $8 million in the start-up. In July of that year, 65,000 new videos were being shared each day, and 100 million were being viewed. Nielsen ratings estimated that an average of 20 million people were visiting the site each month, the majority of those being between the ages of 12 and 17.

In November of the same year, Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion. As a result of the sale, founder Chad Hurley received $395 million, Steve Chen $326 million and Jawed Karim $64 million. Sequoia Capital, which had invested a total of $9 million into the fledgling company, received $516 million for that leap of faith, and Artis Capital got $85 million for their $3 million investment. The video sharing site had grown in popularity so quickly that Time magazine named it the coveted "Person of the Year" for 2006, featuring the screen and a large mirror.

The growth of YouTube continued, with experts estimating that viewers and contributors to YouTube consumed as much bandwidth in 2007 as the entire Internet had in 2000. As of April 2014, YouTube had become the third most visited site on the Internet, with Google and Facebook holding the first and second positions.

Today, YouTube has over a billion active users, with local versions in 88 countries around the world. Every day, people watch hundreds of millions of hours of YouTube videos and generate billions of views for the service.

YouTube frequently asked questions

• Do you have to register as a user to view YouTube videos?

  No, anyone can view any video that has been uploaded to YouTube.

• What are registered users?

  A registered user has created an account with YouTube and been given a customisable home page. This can be used to mark favourites and save videos to be watched later. Registered users are also able to create a channel where they can post their own videos.

• Is any content restricted from being uploaded to YouTube?

  There are community guidelines that YouTube expects its registered users to follow. These include not posting videos that contain pornography or sex acts, hate speech or gratuitous violence. Also prohibited are depictions of drug abuse, underage drinking, animal abuse or copyright violation.

• How does YouTube enforce these guidelines?

  There is no review process before a video is uploaded to YouTube, but other viewers can report content that is inappropriate to have it removed.

• Is there an age restriction for using YouTube?

  Technically a user must be at least 13 years of age to register for a YouTube account, but as there is no age verification process it is easy to falsify the date of birth. There is a safety mode that will hide all comments and filter objectionable videos for a parent who wants to control what their child is exposed to.

• Are all videos posted on YouTube public?

  Yes, by default any video uploaded to YouTube is public, but its contributor may mark it as being private. These will only be available to up to 50 invited YouTube users. There is also an unlisted option which will make the video available only to those who have the URL, and not shown during a search of YouTube.

• What are channels?

  YouTube channels are individual users’ personal hubs to show off their videos.

• What are channel subscriptions?

  A viewer can subscribe to obtain updates from a favourite channel.

• Does watching YouTube affect my Internet usage?

  Yes, as YouTube is being accessed over the Internet, its usage will impact your data cap.

• Is there a difference in the content being shown in the US and what Australians can see with YouTube?

  Yes, especially in terms of music videos. Since these are usually protected by copyright laws, they may not be available to Australian users.

• Does it cost any money to use YouTube?

  No, there is no charge for signing up as a registered user with YouTube and all of the videos shown are free. There is an option for a user to add a small fee to view their videos, but this has not been well received and the majority of users still watch videos for free.

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