YouTube Premium is rolling out a new feature to further improve the user experience. At a cost of a slight price increase, you can enjoy sharing ad-free videos with others.
Ad-Free Video Sharing Hopes to Convert Non-Paying Users into Paid Subscribers
The fundamental promise of YouTube Premium is still watching videos ad-free, whether it's entertaining, educational, or work-related content.
To win over even more users, YouTube brought a new experiment where Premium members can share ad-free videos with friends, family, or colleagues, according to Digital Trends. While this feature isn't without limits, users will be allowed 10 shared ad-free videos a month.
The concept behind this move is straightforward: allow free users to enjoy ad-free content in the hopes of turning them into paid subscribers. It's a smart move that could increase YouTube Premium's subscriber count by providing a taste of the ad-free experience.
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How Does YouTube's Ad-Free Link Sharing Work?
This ad-free sharing is currently available only for YouTube Premium users in some countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. As this is still in its experimental phase, many countries won't be able to use it in the meantime.
As per Google's support page, ad-free sharing is "an optional benefit and subject to withdrawal at any time." YouTube Premium subscribers who are included in this test can use the feature through the platform's share tool, which now has a "Share ad-free" option.
When a user chooses this option, YouTube creates an ad-free, personalized view link, just as news subscribers can share gift links that bypass temporary paywalls.
Limitations and Restrictions in Ad-Free Video Sharing
While this appears to be a good feature, there are a few catches that every viewer should know. First, the ad-free links are not allowed for premium music videos, user-uploaded songs, YouTube Originals, Shorts, Livestreams, and Movies & Shows.
Another thing is that an ad-free link can be viewed only ten times before it becomes invalid. Aside from that, the ad-free viewing option is valid for 30 days from the time the link is shared.
You should also take note that users should log into YouTube to access the ad-free content through the official Android or iOS application.
How Ad-Free Link Quotas Are Calculated
The ten ad-free link quota is tracked per video, and not per individual. This implies that even if a video is shared among several individuals, the video will only take one share from the monthly quota.
Furthermore, if the link is shared with another premium YouTube user, it is not applied to the quota for a month, so only non-premium users are responsible for filling the quota.
Will Ad-Free Sharing Permanently Be Offered?
Just as with most of the experimental features, it is not certain if this feature will be permanently added to YouTube Premium. Google frequently tests such features before making them available worldwide or phasing them out if they do not make the intended impact.
