Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The cost of digital subscriptions can add up quickly, month by month: for AI chatbots, cloud storage, media publishing, dating apps, photo editing software, fitness programs, VPN tools, game subscriptions, the the best streaming servicesand more. When you’re looking to save some money, it’s often one of the first places to turn.
Have to try and write about everything from ChatGPT to Plex as part of my job, I sign up for more subscriptions than most – some of which I cancel at the first opportunity, and some of which I keep renewing because I really find them to be good value for money. And at the top of that particular list? YouTube Premium.
It’s not pretty, with individual plans starting at $13.99 / £11.99 / AU$14.99 per month, but as we head into 2025, it’s the only digital subscription service I know I won’t be canceling in the next 12 months . It’s really worth the money, for me – and you may find it is for you too, once you’ve tried it.
I’m not saying I’m going to drop everything else. I still have shows to watch and apps to try – but while there may be a certain amount subscription skipping with other services, I know that I will stay with YouTube Premium throughout 2025, and these are the reasons for that.
1. No ads
In a sense, sitting through an ad or two is not too difficult in exchange for saving some money – and judging by the number of people who sign up. for ad-supported streaming servicesit’s a tradeoff that many people are willing to make. If you can watch YouTube for free with ads, why should you pay money to quit?
If you’ve never tried YouTube Premium, you may not understand this – but the site and apps are much, much better when they’re ad-free. One video flows effortlessly into the next. You can skip forward and backward without interruption. Those music mixes you put on in the background are not suddenly interrupted by advertisements for loans or holiday offers. And the advice boards and home screens are free of sponsorship.
After subscribing to YouTube Premium, it’s now incredibly annoying for me to load the site when I’m not signed in – or for a friend to show a YouTube clip and then have to wait 30 seconds for it to finally appear. It’s a classic case of when you try something, then you never want to go back.
I spend more time than I’d like to admit going down YouTube rabbit holes—whether it’s live music shows or outdoor adventures I’ve never done on my own—and with the months and years, I must be able to put in hours. and hours of extra video in (not all of which were the best quality, but you get the idea)…
2. YouTube Music Premium
I don’t think YouTube makes this clear enough, but if you sign up for YouTube Premium, then you also get YouTube Music Premium. You may find that you can do without your $11.99 / £11.99 / AU$13.99 Spotify subscription – so if you’re considering those monthly savings, you’re getting YouTube Premium for free.
YouTube Music Premium isn’t quite on the same level as Spotify Premium in terms of features and integrations, but it works well on the web and on mobile. You have a lot of tips and custom mixes, there is built-in support for casting to other devices, and of course you have your year end summary.
YouTube Music Premium also integrates tightly with YouTube – meaning all those b-sides, rarities and live shows that are on YouTube can be added to your playlists. With the extra music you get on YouTube, it’s arguably the widest catalog of digital music you can access anywhere.
You’ve got support for podcasts, mobile downloads for offline playback, background listening on your phone, and even higher quality audio options — and even a queuing system for your songs that’s actually a little simpler of Spotify. It’s almost worth the price of YouTube Premium on its own.
3. Other advantages
There are also many other reasons to subscribe to YouTube Premium. You can download videos to your computer, tablet or phone – which is very useful if you’re on a plane or going somewhere else with spotty Wi-Fi coverage. You also often get access to videos of higher quality than the masses on some devices.
YouTube Premium subscribers almost always have access to new features first, and you also have your own viewing statistics panel – so you can see how many videos you’ve watched. On the phone, audio from videos continues to play when the screen turns off, and when you switch to other apps.
Watch positions in videos are remembered, so you can easily jump to something you played a few hours or a few days ago, and YouTube Premium subscribers also have access to the picture-in-picture functionality on Android , iPhone and iPad. A few extra controls are also included – like the option to skip ahead to the most popular part of a video with a single tap or click.
Your mileage may vary on how much you use these features, but I use most of them a lot of the time. Add in the completely ad-free experience, and the bundled premium music streaming service, and I don’t see myself canceling YouTube Premium in 2025.
