If you have been online for a few years, or even months, you are aware of YouTube’s persistent push for their users to subscribe to their premium services and how it has been laughed at by the internet at large. One of the main selling points the video-sharing platform has been emphasising is the ad-free viewing experience that people are entitled to if they ever decide to go premium. But people have decided to install ad blockers rather than fund the trillion-dollar company.
With YouTube’s latest move to ban ad blockers backfiring, the Google-owned video platform has instead decided to find other ways to persuade people to join the paid side of things, such as offering badges, AI assistants, bonus rewards for other platforms, and more – but are they worth it?
The YouTube company announced on Wednesday, 15th November, that the app will be expanding its offerings for premium users, one of which is an enhanced version of 1080p HD featuring improved bitrate for “crisper, clearer details” for a wider range of devices. To go along with this is their seamless streaming, where you can jump between various devices and pick up where you last left off. This coincides with their other features, such as background play, downloadable videos, and limitless music streaming.
Another impressive feature YouTube plans to add is AI integration. This addition allows users to interact with the video in more ways than one, letting people freely ask questions about the content they are viewing and make recommendations. The answers that the AI will generate will largely be drawn from the internet and YouTube’s own data if necessary, helping viewers to “dive in deeper” into the content they are viewing.
Additionally, this AI assistant also has the ability to summarise topics in the comments of a video, regardless of the discourse’s length. The main limitation of this feature, however, is the fact that it is limited to English videos, and the quality and accuracy of the answer may vary. According to YouTube, user feedback is active for this feature, and if your comment helps their system, you will get a gift card.
YouTube will also be giving away badges that showcase your achievements on the platform for those 18 years of age and older. These new badges, which can be found on the Your Premium Benefits page, are intended to highlight your premium milestones – but that’s about it, frankly, as no other information besides their announcement has been given.
Lastly, premium users will also receive several decent perks, such as a three-month trial for Discord Nitro, Walmart+ membership, PC Game Pass, a four-month trial of Calm Premium, and an in-game Genshin Impact loot bundle. However, at the time of writing, details and what perks this entails are yet to be determined.
With all these features, it is important to ask, “Is it worth it?” And the short answer is – no, not really. If you’re only after an ad-free experience, then having YouTube Premium is, outright, not worth it, as you would be paying a minimum of RM17.90 a month when alternative streaming platforms and better ad blocks are available. For those who are interested in the other benefits, it is still too early to tell if they are worth it, as we don’t really know the true value of what they are offering. Additionally, if no one is really interested in the premium subscription, maybe YouTube will introduce more rewards to make the plunge worthwhile. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see.
Source: NegativeSpace, TechCrunch [1], [2], YouTube [1], [2]
