You may soon need to buy YouTube Premium to watch 4K YouTube videos, a new user test suggests.
According to a Reddit thread (opens in a new tab) highlighted on Twitter by leaker Alvin (opens in a new tab), several non-Premium YouTube users have reported seeing 4K (and higher) resolution video options. Limited for subscribers. your iOS devices. For these people, videos are currently only available for streaming in resolutions up to 1440p (QHD).
The apparent experience only seems to be affecting a handful of YouTube users at the moment, but it suggests that the owner of Google is considering the idea of setting up a site-wide paywall to access high-quality YouTube videos on the future.
So after testing up to 12 ads on YouTube for non-Premium users, some users reported that they also need to get a Premium account just to watch 4K videos. pic.twitter.com/jJodoAxeDpOctober 1, 2022
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It's no secret that Google has been looking for new ways to monetize its YouTube platform in recent months. In September, the company introduced five non-skippable ads to some YouTube users as part of a separate test, an unexpected development that understandably didn't go over well with much of the YouTube community.
A resolution paywall seems like a more acceptable approach from Google. While annoying, the change likely won't draw the same level of ire from non-paying YouTubers as excessive ads, given that many smartphones still go up to QHD resolution.
Of course, if this encourages those who care about high resolution to invest in the platform's Premium subscription package, it may also be more lucrative for Google. After all, YouTube Premium, which offers ad-free viewing, background playback, and the ability to download videos for offline use, currently costs $11.99 / £11.99 / AU$14.99 per month.
Needless to say, the subscription service hasn't taken off as Google would have hoped since its launch in 2014. Currently, only around 50 million users are signed up for YouTube Premium, while nearly 2 billion people actively use YouTube. on a monthly basis.
Could the addition of 4K video in the Premium benefits package increase that number? Only time will tell. We'll be keeping an eye on our own YouTube account to see if this resolution paywall becomes permanent in the coming months.