YouTube Premium's newest features include a big upgrade for audiophiles

Summary

YouTube Premium is the recurring subscription-based version of the standard YouTube video streaming experience.
YouTube Premium offers a selection of perks over the free ad-free tier of the platform, with new features being added regularly.
There are a number of new experimental features currently being tested for YouTube Premium, and they can now be tried out by users.

Paid members of the YouTube Premium streaming service are in for a treat: a number of new experimental features are officially in testing, available now in early-access form. Whether you’re a new or an existing Premium subscriber, you can go ahead and test out these platform additions by signing up to be a tester.

“For a limited time, eligible Premium members can try out new features that we’re working on, including AI experiments. As a Premium member, you’ll also enjoy watching YT ad-free, downloads, and more,” reads the official YouTube experimental features web portal.

The following experimental YouTube Premium features are actively being tested:

Jump Ahead, YouTube’s AI-powered tool for making it easy to skip directly to the most popular portion of a given video, can now be tested on the web
A new 256kbps audio quality mode, which provides an enhanced video streaming bitrate
The ability to allow YouTube to automatically download a selection of Shorts for offline consumption at a later date
The option for iPhone users to view Shorts content in picture-in-picture mode
Support for additional playback speed options via the mobile YouTube app, with a new 4x option now available to select from

YouTube hasn’t yet provided an indication of when these experimental Premium features will land in stable form, though I’d imagine a launch window of sometime later this calendar year. In the meantime, the company is interested in receiving feedback in the form of a questionnaire — in exchange for signing up and completing a study, YouTube is offering a complimentary gift card of an unspecified dollar amount.

Thought YouTube Premium was just for skipping ads? Think again

YouTube Premium has more than a couple perks that make paying worth it.

Google continues its efforts to monetize YouTube

YouTube Premium offers a number of perks over the platform’s ad-supported free tier

YouTube Premium has evolved quite drastically over the years — first launching under the name YouTube Red back in 2014, the subscription-based service has picked up a number of useful features as time has progressed.

Early on, YouTube Premium offered perks such as an ad-free experience, a picture-in-picture mode, access to original video content in the form of ‘YouTube Originals,’ as well as the ability to download content to watch offline at a later date.

Today, YouTube Premium stands as a genuine competitor within the streaming industry.

Then, in 2018, parent company Alphabet (owner of Google) went ahead and launched a new music streaming service to compete with the likes of Spotify, opting to market the service under the YouTube umbrella. Eventually, we saw this YouTube Music streaming service get roped into the broader YouTube Premium suite of features, and the two services are now deeply intertwined with one another.

Today, YouTube Premium stands as a genuine competitor within the streaming industry. It offers a unique value proposition, incorporating both music and video streaming within a single subscription service. Google’s continued investment in new and experimental features bodes well for the future of the platform, and it’s arguably a necessity to offset the frustrations surrounding rising costs and price hikes.