I’ve been a YouTube Premium subscriber for nearly four years now, ever since the service rolled out to Lebanon when I was living back there. My family membership started out as a “let’s try and see if we use this enough to justify it,” and eventually became the most logical and indispensable subscription our household has. Having no ads on all our phones, tablets, computers, and the TV when we plop down to catch a video at the end of the day is a huge perk, and I’m reminded of that each time I have to suffer through non-Premium YouTube at a friend’s place or an Airbnb.
But that’s just the thing. I care about ad removal and giving back to the community of creators whose work I follow and enjoy; I don’t care about any of the other YouTube perks. So when YouTube announced its Premium Lite subscription, it seemed tailor-made for me, except that it isn’t because of an obstacle on the way.