YouTube to Show Ads to Subscribers Who Pay to Avoid Them

A month after the launch of YouTube's most affordable Premium Lite plan, the company warned that from June 30, 2025, ads will appear in Shorts videos. Despite the USD 7.99 per month subscription fee, the service did not initially offer complete ad-free access, but now users will have to put up with additional inserts.

Neowin writes about it.

Changes for Premium Lite subscribers

Back in March, YouTube began to fight ad blockers more actively, which caused Chrome, Opera, and Firefox owners to experience crashes. In the same month, Google introduced Premium Lite, which is similar to Netflix Basic with Ads: there are fewer ads than in the free version, but they remain. At the same time, the tariff deprives subscribers of several conveniences such as background playback, offline video download, and access to YouTube Music.

The company now sends out warning emails to subscribers.

"We are writing to let you know that beginning 30 June 2025, ads may appear on Shorts, in addition to music content and when you search or browse. Most videos will continue to remain ad-free," it is said in the statement.

The message was posted on the TWiT.community forum by big_D, and the German publication Deskmodder confirmed the information, which indicates that the changes are global.

Thus, Premium Lite becomes even less "premium", although it retains an advantage over free YouTube in terms of the number of advertising integrations.

As a reminder, we spend more time on YouTube than on any other streaming service every day, but it is risky to blindly rely on its recommendations. The algorithm can quickly lead to unwanted or even toxic topics. However, a few simple tweaks can help you take control and customise your feed to suit your interests.

We also wrote that YouTube's interface is constantly being updated — the Shorts stream, test experiments, and intrusive ads are increasingly making it difficult to watch. However, there are effective ways to change the look of the platform, making it more convenient and personalized.