Recently Youtube has been experimenting with different ways to get users to Youtube Premium. Among other things, by pouring in longer trailers and commercials and locking 4K resolution behind a wall. What conclusions YouTube drew from the experiments isn’t clear, but users didn’t exactly appreciate the changes. Now it looks like a new test is in the works and this time it’s about locking higher bit rates behind the premium wall.
One Discover a reddit user A change in the resolution listing on Youtube where the addition of 1080p Premium has appeared. This function differs from the usual 1080p mode in that it must have a higher bit rate, which can be about higher image quality or a higher frame rate. Predictably, it has to do with the premium mode that can scroll at 60 or 120fps, but it probably has more to do with quality than frequency.
Like I said, Youtube had previously tried locking higher resolutions behind a paywall, but decided shortly after the experiment started to scrap it. Watching videos in a higher resolution is something that will still be available to all users, regardless of whether they pay for Youtube Premium or not, but higher image quality can be something that adds value to subscribers without locking a specific resolution behind a paywall.
It remains to be seen if the experiment bears fruit. The majority of Youtube’s previous tests of Premium features have yet to be widely implemented, but depending on how bitrate locking ultimately turns out, it seems like a reasonable compromise.
What Youtube features do you envision locked to Premium?
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