There are many online video entertainment platforms to choose from. However, if I had to select just one, YouTube Premium by Google would be my top pick. Here are a few reasons why I believe YouTube Premium deserves my money over traditional streaming services.
Unlike the Netflix or Disney+, YouTube is not a traditional streaming service. People who binge-watch on YouTube have very different browsing habits. They don’t always want to watch movies and TV shows. Bite-sized videos on many different topics are more popular. I prefer tech podcasts, documentaries, and current affairs videos. It’s a huge variety of interesting content entirely missing on other streaming sites.
You can watch most YouTube videos except YouTube Originals with ads, but it’s only through a YouTube Premium account that you would enjoy the best experience.
Ad-Free Videos Makes It Easy to Jump Between Videos
The biggest difference between YouTube with ads and YouTube Premium is how easy it is to switch between videos. With YouTube Premium, there are no ads when you move from one video, or playlists, to another, so you can browse with uninterrupted viewing. The transition between videos feels much more natural than what you could ever hope to achieve with YouTube ad blockers.
On that note, there is little use comparing the two. Ad blockers only manage to give you a choppy transition with glitches and errors. Recently, YouTube has started blocking playback entirely for signed-in users who use ad blockers. They also violate its terms and conditions, which can cause account restrictions.
When you go ad-free with a Premium account, it’s a real delight to use the pause, fast-forward, and rewind buttons. If a video gets boring, you can quickly jump to something else, even something totally unrelated to what you were watching before. The absence of ads ensures your flow is not disrupted.
YouTube syncs across multiple devices, allowing me to continue watching from where I left off on any device. With Premium, since there are no ads to deal with, I feel a sense of continuity regardless of which device I’m using. I only need to sign in to each one of them with the original Google account.
YouTube content creators often use Video chapters helping you fast-forward to see what the video is about. Again, without advertisements, it’s smoother to navigate to the desired video frame.
Also read: check out these YouTube Chrome extensions for enhanced viewing. If you’re a Firefox user, these add-ons are more suitable for YouTube.
Background Play is a Time-Saver
A closely related benefit of an ad-free Premium account is that it lets you play videos in the background on a mobile device while you’re using other apps or running errands. It’s helpful when you have to temporarily shift away from watching something that has grabbed your attention, and you don’t want to pause it just so you can resume the video quickly later.
Using background play is easy. I just need to pull out the video and pause it. After that, I can use other apps that require my attention, such as responding to a Slack message. I can even take urgent phone calls or talk to people. On a busy day, when you have your hands full with many activities, the background play feature on YouTube Premium feels like a time-saver.
Related: you can use Android phone to cast any favorite YouTube videos even on a TV in a hotel room.
You can download videos for offline viewing
We take continuous online connectivity for granted these days. But there are many situations where you may not enjoy this luxury. Whether you are experiencing power outages, traveling somewhere, or just on a limited data plan, there can be disruptions to normal Internet access. In such cases, watching YouTube videos becomes a last priority.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. With a YouTube Premium account, you get to access to its Smart Downloads feature. It lets you download full-HD videos to up to 10 devices at a time. There is also a related feature called Premium Controls which lets you view any video in a higher resolution format than uploaded.
There’s no limit to the amount of data you can save beforehand for offline viewing. It’s only limited by your Internet plan and storage capacity. But there’s a downside: you can only watch these offline videos for up to 30 days. After that, they’ll auto-delete. I have to keep downloading the same videos all over again (they can also be saved to an SD card).
Also read: YouTube TV is different from YouTube Premium. Find out how.
Family Subscriptions are a Nice Touch
You can share your YouTube Premium subscription with five other people. They don’t have to be your family members but according to the rules, they have to live in the same household. In my experience, anyone with a valid YouTube account will enjoy the ad-free experience on all their devices.
Even while traveling and living in a different country, I am able to keep my YouTube Premium’s family plan active. Every recipient of a YouTube family account subscription appreciates the gift.
And the best part is, you don’t have to share any passwords. The other users in a family account have a separate YouTube Premium subscription. As a Family manager on YouTube, you’re the one that pays for everyone else. It’s also much more valuable than an individual YouTube Premium plan. If you have anyone else willing to split the monthly costs, it will work out cheaper for you.
Note: Netflix and many others are cracking down on password sharing.
The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here – More Benefits of Premium
The main reasons I continue to pay for YouTube Premium are its ad-free experience, downloads, background play, and family subscription. But there are more benefits to the subscription that are worth a quick glance.
YouTube Music Premium is the most important feature that I don’t use very often. If you’re a Spotify or Apple Music subscriber, YouTube Music Premium can serve as a neat substitute. It has its own comparable collection of music and podcasts.
Unlike the user-uploaded songs found elsewhere on YouTube, with YouTube Music Premium, you only get original, royalty-based albums. And it does come with the same standard YouTube Premium features such as ad-free playback, offline listening, and background play.
YouTube Originals is a Premium feature that is YouTube’s attempt to imitate other streamers such as Netflix by broadcasting its own movies and TV shows. It’s not very popular, but the original Cobra Kai series, a reboot of the Karate Kid franchise, was launched on YouTube Originals before being acquired by Netflix. Even today, it has many entertainment programs worth checking out.
There are other YouTube Premium features which were launched very recently, such as Google Meet Sessions, which allows all your participants to watch the same video ad-free together. Binge watching YouTube videos with friends and family sounds very exciting. I would like to try this feature very soon.
But YouTube Premium Membership Is Not Cheap
Despite YouTube Premium having all the right entertainment features suited for me, I would have to admit its individual plans ($13.99/month), and even family plans ($22.99/month) can feel more expensive than comparable streamers, though there is a 1-month free trial.
Also, if you’re a cinema addict and want to watch a full-length feature film on YouTube, you might only be able to get a few scenes here and there. YouTube does allow you to rent or purchase those movies separately, which costs extra. Additionally, the full-length movies or TV show collections on YouTube is much smaller than what you’d find with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus and other streaming services.
Given these cons, is YouTube Premium the best streaming service out there? That is hard to answer, but it’s certainly suited better for many users who need a variety of entertainment with informative, educational, and engaging content. If you have many streaming providers to choose from, you can use tools like Plex and its alternatives to save money.
Image Credit: Pixabay. All screenshots by Sayak Boral.
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