Overview
- Background play and video downloads begin rolling out to Premium Lite subscribers today, with availability expanding over the coming weeks.
- Both features were previously limited to the full YouTube Premium offering.
- Premium Lite removes ads on most videos but retains ads on music content and excludes the ad‑free YouTube Music app.
- Google recently tightened access to free background playback workarounds on mobile browsers, then formally extended the capability to Lite members.
- Lite debuted last March and has expanded from initial tests to the U.S. and other markets, as Alphabet highlights growing subscription revenue and user totals.