In the past, to save money, many would subscribe to YouTube Premium through Turkey and similar regions. However, Google has been getting stricter in recent years, and now it’s even blocking the App Store gift card method. You have to enter a Turkish credit card or phone number to renew. I’m sure quite a few people have run into this. For those on a tight budget, this is really bad news.
However, if you just want to watch YouTube without ads, there might be a cheaper family plan in the future.
Recently, a Canadian Reddit user shared that a new “Premium Lite Family” option suddenly appeared on their YouTube subscription page. It allows up to 6 members to share, and the pre-tax monthly fee is only CA$12.99 (about NT$299), which is nearly half the price of the standard plan—a significant saving.
YouTube Premium Lite family plan appears in Canada! CA$12.99/month, up to 6 users
According to a Canadian user on Reddit, he saw a new Premium Lite family plan in his app, priced at CA$12.99 per month before tax. Another commenter also confirmed below, saying he saw the same new plan at the same price of CA$12.99, with the first month marked as a CA$0 trial, and support for up to 5 household members.
If compared to the CA$22.99 monthly fee for the YouTube Premium Standard Family plan in Canada, the Lite Family plan costs CA$10 less per month, saving about 43.5%. It’s not quite half price, but it’s definitely close.
Assuming the household is full (1 family manager and 5 members), the average cost per person is only about CA$2.17 per month, which is quite cost-effective—though taxes are added on top of that, of course.
YouTube Premium plans in Canada are more expensive than in Taiwan, so if Google really does plan to launch a Premium Lite family plan in the future, the price in Taiwan will definitely be even cheaper than that, which would be very attractive.
For readers who aren’t familiar with the Premium Lite plan yet, let me explain it here.
Seeing the name “Lite,” many people may still have the impression from when it first launched, thinking it only removes some ads and lacks background playback and offline downloads. That’s actually not the case. YouTube updated the plan back in February 2026, and Premium Lite now supports background playback and downloads for most videos.
The new Premium Lite lets most YouTube and YouTube Kids videos play without ad interruptions, and also lets you download most videos or playlists to your device to keep watching offline.
Background playback also works for most regular videos, allowing content to continue playing even after switching to other apps or turning off the screen.
| Function | Premium Lite | Standard YouTube Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Most regular videos are ad-free. | Support | Support |
| Ad-free music content | Not supported, ads will appear. | Support |
| Shorts, Search and Browse page ads | may still appear | Provide a more complete ad-free experience. |
| Background playback | Most non-music videos are supported. | Support all applicable content. |
| Offline download | Most non-music videos are supported. | Support all applicable content |
| YouTube Music Premium | does not include | Include |
| High-quality audio and video | does not include | Include |
| Continue watching, quick skip, playback queue, and other features | Does not include. | Contain |
In short, Premium Lite lets you watch general unboxing, tech, gaming, tutorial, news, or podcast videos mostly ad-free, with background playback and offline downloads. Music content, YouTube Music, and some advanced features are available only in the higher-priced full Premium plan.
However, it’s worth noting that only a small number of users are seeing this new feature so far. Google might have just started testing it, and it’s still unclear whether it will be rolled out in the future.
In the original Reddit discussions, a Canadian user said their account didn’t have the Premium Lite Family option. In another post, someone saw the family plan on the YouTube subscription page, but clicking through couldn’t complete the sign-up, and then the plan disappeared. There were also existing Premium subscribers reporting that they had to pause their current subscription before seeing the option to switch to Lite.
So, don’t get your hopes up too much about this plan actually materializing in the future.
Source: KOCPC Chinese