New a long time, YouTube has been searching for ways to push its subscription-based premium model on consumers, including testing several (up to 11) unskippable commercials. A new restriction for non-premium users is guaranteed to irritate many platform users.
Several Twitter and Reddit users noticed that over the weekend, YouTube has been requesting that non-Premium users upgrade their free plan in order to stream in 4K, as per a TechCrunch report.
According to a screenshot supplied by Twitter user Alvin, the 4K choice now has a small banner underneath that says ‘Premium,’ while other options such as 1440p (2K) and 1080p (FHD) remain open to all.
YouTube generated $6.87 billion in income in Q2 2022, which was almost a billion dollars less than Google’s predicted $7.51 billion. This might be one of the motivations behind the Premium push.
While it is unclear whether the function is something Google is testing with YouTube or something that will be sent out to all users, the move is sure to be undesirable.
Premium subscriptions in India cost Rs 139 per month without auto-renewal and Rs 129 per month with auto-renewal. The latter also comes with a free month. There are also quarterly and annual subscription options available for Rs 399 and Rs 1290, respectively.
Premium users receive no advertisements, the ability to download videos to view offline (only through the YouTube app), and PiP support (picture-in-picture). As part of the subscription, users now have access to YouTube Music.
