YouTube Premium: many advantages at reduced prices? Here is the truth

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YouTube Premium is the paid service that is added to the standard one of the famous platforms for viewing audio-video content. But is it worth the money on the subscription?

YouTube Premium logo

Everyone knows the YouTube website, but perhaps not everyone knows that there is also a paid version. Well yes: even YouTube does not neglect business and offers exclusive features, where the interested party intends to sign up for a subscription.

YouTube Premium is the service of the hugely popular platform that offers various advantages, such as the ability to watch videos without advertising interruptions. Another peculiarity is the possibility to watch the contents even offline, but not only: the subscriber can take advantage of the features of YouTube Music to hear thousands of songs in a truly immersive experience.

Below we will therefore see closely how the YouTube Premium service works, to identify the advantages and strengths, and weaknesses (if any). Let’s be clear.

YouTube Premium: the history of the video service

Before turning our attention to the YouTube Premium service, it seems only right to give some information on the history of this world-famous platform.

All those who have a minimum of familiarity with PCs, smartphones, the internet, and new technologies have certainly heard of the YouTube website at least once.

It is the best-known video platform in the world, founded in the now distant 2005.

The history of YouTube deserves to be highlighted, at least briefly. From a startup conceived and launched by three nerds to a big global company: we have a bet already won many years ago, capable of generating peaks of revenues of more than 15 billion dollars a year.

The three founders of YouTube intended to create a system that would allow people to show their vacation videos and other personal experiences to friends, family, and acquaintances.

In particular, the YouTube website was born from an idea of ​​Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, three guys who worked together for PayPal, the well-known company created by Elon Musk and active in the digital payments sector. The three then decided to go through a new entrepreneurial adventure together, which soon proved to be enormously successful.

The YouTube story tells us that the platform’s highlight services weren’t up and running right away. It took a few months before users could create channels and upload videos to the platform. The first weeks of YouTube’s life were aimed at perfecting the code: within a few days here are several new features, still in use today. We refer to eg. to the possibility of full-screen viewing, to the ability to embed videos in pages of third-party sites under the HTML code, and also to the creation of playlists. Later it was then introduced the possibility of subscribing to other users’ channels to obtain updates of different kinds.

The curious might wonder what was the first video uploaded to the YouTube platform. Well, at 20.27 on April 23, 2005, Jawed Karim posted on the site ” Me at the zoo “, a video that for 18 seconds represented an elephant cage located at the San Diego zoo in California.

YouTube Premium: how to monetize a worldwide hit

YouTube has also been defined as Google’s “TV”, increasingly rooted in the habits of young and old web surfers.

Even if it is now logical to think of Google when mentioning YouTube, indeed it should be remembered that the video platform was designed and founded not by Big G, but by the three guys mentioned, who worked in a company that was still in its infancy in those years.

Among the rumors that explain the birth of the platform, there is also that linked to the statements of one of the founders, namely Jawed Karim. In the past, he revealed that the idea of ​​YouTube was born following the difficulty of finding online videos of two specific events: the Super Bowl of 2004 (when Justin Timberlake took off Janet Jackson’s bra) and the terrible tsunami of December 26, 2004.

YouTube soon distinguished itself precisely for the articulation of the video offer: today it is possible to find everything, while before 2005 there were no video catalogs on the web that stood out for completeness, detail, and articulation in categories.

The key year for YouTube was 2006: in October of that year, in fact (and only a year and 5 months after the first video released online), Google chose to buy YouTube for the sum of 1.65 billion dollars. He had smelled the deal.

It’s been more than 15 years since its debut on the internet, and today YouTube videos are billions and billions.

With time, increasing the number of users exponentially, the company has thus decided to introduce numerous innovations, also to monetize and increase its business base.

Today, in addition to the possibility of watching videos for free – which is what made the platform’s fortune – on YouTube, it is also possible to rent or buy films. Most importantly, you can take out a monthly subscription to YouTube Premium which allows you to have access to exclusive features. We refer, for example, to the aforementioned services linked to YouTube Music and the possibility of following videos even if they are disconnected (for example during a trip by plane).

YouTube Premium: what the service is in a nutshell and the advantages

After these necessary premises on the birth and history of YouTube, we can move on to consider the service called YouTube Premium APK. The latter consists of the paid service of the platform which, having subscribed to a monthly subscription, introduces the possibility for its users to access various exclusive benefits, not available in the no-cost version of the platform.

By subscribing to YouTube Premium, it is possible to have access to YouTube Music (YouTube’s music streaming platform) and to all the videos available on YouTube without commercial interruptions, even offline and in the background.

Here are, in summary, the positive aspects for those who intend to subscribe to YouTube Premium:

  • Download videos to watch offline: you can save videos and playlists on your mobile device and play them without being connected;
  • Ad-free videos, with the ability to watch millions of videos without ad breaks;
  • Play in the background, without interrupting playback while using other apps or when the screen is off;
  • YouTube Music: a huge catalog of music available instantly, thanks to the new YouTube Music app in an improved version;
  • Ad-free music: listen to millions of songs without ad breaks;
  • YouTube Kids: ad-free and offline playback on the YouTube Kids app, aimed at a very young audience.

But be careful: the ability to download videos and music on your mobile device and play them offline without a web connection is valid for a maximum of 30 days.

The functionality represented by background playback is also very interesting since it allows you to continue playing music and videos in the background, even if the user opens other apps or if he turns off the screen on his mobile device.

Furthermore, the download function is especially beneficial because it allows you to download videos, in cases where the subscriber is running out of data or cannot connect to the web.

How to use the YouTube Premium service? Here are the steps to follow

All those interested in trying the service in question should know that to use YouTube Premium and have access to all the aforementioned advantages it is mandatory to subscribe to a monthly subscription and download the YouTube and YouTube Music applications on your mobile device.

These are completely free apps for both devices with an iOS operating system; both about devices with an Android type operating system.

In summary, let’s see below what are the steps to go through to subscribe to a YouTube Premium subscription:

  • Accessing this web page or opening the YouTube app;
  • Access with the credentials of the Google account with which the user wants to subscribe;
  • Entering the requested data;
  • Start of the one-month free trial.

To view the details relating to their subscription, the user can refer to the appropriate section on the official YouTube Premium website.

As mentioned, the service looks pretty cool, as all new customers who have never experienced the service can try YouTube Premium at no cost for one month. At the end of the trial period, the subscription will undergo an automatic renewal. But as already seen elsewhere, it is possible to unsubscribe at any time.

It should be noted that YouTube communicates a reminder to all trial subscribers 7 days before the end of the free period of use, to evaluate whether to continue with the paid use or not.

YouTube grants a large degree of freedom to subscribers. As mentioned, you can cancel your subscription at any time, by referring to the ad hoc ‘Paid subscription’ page, present on the official website of the platform.

In this way, the customer‘s account will revert to the basic version of YouTube at no additional cost. But beware: the user is free to subscribe to YouTube Premium again at any time.

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