Don't want to pay $14 per month for no ads on YouTube? New Premium Lite plan is now live at $8

Those paying for YouTube in the US now have a new option to fork out less money to watch with no adverts (mostly) on the platform, a 'Premium Lite' plan.

This ad-free subscription (with a slight catch that we'll come back to) has been a pilot scheme in the US (and elsewhere, including Australia), but is now becoming an official offering from YouTube priced at $7.99 per month.

This is just in the US right now, but Australia will be in line for the same treatment in the "coming weeks" (as well as Germany and Thailand, which are also set to have their pilots converted to a full rollout).

That $7.99 is a good deal cheaper than the $13.99 per month for the normal Premium plan, which is feeling pricey these days, certainly to us. Indeed, it's not that far off half-price, but there are compromises in terms of the ad removal here.

Namely that adverts still remain with certain content on YouTube for Premium Lite subscribers, and that includes shorts, and any music videos or other music clips (sadly, as that's one of the main things we peruse on the platform).

Also, those signed up for Premium Lite won't get offline playback or background play, as provided in the full Premium offering.

Still, most YouTube videos won't have adverts with the new subscription, and it's likely to prove a good option for many as an affordable alternative to the full-on Premium plan (music lovers aside).

Those outside of the mentioned regions can rest assured that they should get this choice eventually. YouTube tells us:

"We'll continue to expand our Premium Lite pilots to additional countries this year and introduce more ways for our users to get the most from their subscriptions."