Will 4K on YouTube soon only be available with a subscription? In the USA, the platform is currently testing this with various users. They are anything but enthusiastic.
In the USA, some users will no longer be able to watch YouTube videos in UHD resolution – unless they take out a premium subscription. As several users on (Reddit) and (Twitter) report, YouTube seems to be currently testing this new paywall in the US.
As can be seen in the shared screenshots, the video platforms marks resolutions above 1440p in the YouTube app with the notice Premium
In order to access the higher resolutions, it is therefore necessary to take out a premium subscription.
In the browser, on the other hand, the higher resolutions are apparently available without limitation.
So, after testing up to 12 ads on YouTube for non-Premium users, now some users reported that they also have to get a Premium account just to watch videos in 4K. pic.twitter.com/jJodoAxeDp
– Alvin (@sondesix) October 1, 2022
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to be rolled out. The company would not respond to a request for comment from US site TechCrunch.
On Twitter, however, they responded to a post by saying that the paywall was an experiment to better gauge the feature preferences of premium and non-premium users.
It is also unclear whether YouTube will expand the test to other regions outside the US. At this stage, however, users in Germany do not appear to be affected by the test.
What is the point of YouTube Premium anyway?
Currently, premium subscribers receive four major benefits that are not available to non-paying users. Probably the most important point is the ad-free viewing of videos. In addition, videos can be played in the background, for example when the smartphone screen is switched off or when switching to another app. In the non-premium version, the video pauses in these cases.
Other benefits include the ability to download videos to watch them offline, as well as access to the YouTube Music Premium streaming service.
What do you think of YouTube’s new trial paywall? Is the resolution a reason to possibly switch to Premium in the future or an opportunity for competitors to break YouTube’s dominance?
