No apps or services are immune to bugs, but when it comes to YouTube, we’ve been seeing too many issues with it in the last few weeks. While Google usually takes prompt action and fixes those bugs within a few hours, there is one particular YouTube glitch that Google seems to have gotten to know about a bit too late, and still hasn’t been able to confirm what’s causing it.
It doesn’t impact everyone, but for those who pay to watch YouTube videos ad-free. Instead of showing uninterrupted videos, YouTube is now showing ads on its Premium plans, as per several reports on Reddit (1, 2, 3). These issues have been discussed on the forum-style social media for nearly a month, but Google responded only recently.
Why are Premium users seeing ads, and what did Google say?
Google has only acknowledged the issue on its support page and said that it’s currently investigating the issue. It’s been more than 48 hours since then, but Google hasn’t shared any updates regarding what might be the reason behind it. However, some Reddit users seem to have found what might have caused ads to slip into YouTube Premium.
One Reddit user, u/Nanor_32, claimed that they encountered ads on their YouTube Premium, and later discovered that the original plan had been automatically switched to Premium Lite (via Tech-Issues Today), which is a cheaper subscription tier that shows some ads. However, Google hasn’t confirmed any forced plan changes for existing users.
YouTube Premium and Premium Lite are different subscription plans, and there is a significant price difference between the two. Premium costs $13.99 a month for the Individual plan, while Premium Lite is priced at $7.99.
So, it doesn’t make economic sense to downgrade existing customers and force them to pay less unless there is a technical glitch. Hopefully, we’ll know what went wrong soon from Google. In the meantime, let us know in the comments if you are seeing ads on YouTube Premium and if your account is automatically switched to Premium Lite.
