The YouTube experience makes 4K videos an exclusive feature

2 months ago, Sundar Pichai announce A new era of belt-tightening at Google, resulting in the closure of Pixel laptop team, slaughter Of the half of the pilot projects in District 120, a branch of Project Loon technologyand the The death of Google Stadia. YouTube may be the next next coming into the hands of Google’s budget management. Mac rumors Reports suggest that YouTube is experimenting with 4K video resolution for paid videos, making it exclusive to YouTube Premium subscribers.

There have been reports of some users experiencing this over the past month. When the resolution is selected, every option is available except for “2160p” (4K), which has a small “Premium” sign next to it. That would be $11.99 per month if you want to access the videos in the highest resolution. Google’s recently slain game streaming service, Stadia, had a similar billing setup, with 4K being a distinct plus.

So, after testing up to 12 YouTube ads for non-premium users, some users now report that they also have to get a Premium account just to watch 4K videos. pic.twitter.com/jJodoAxeDp

– Alvin (@sondesix) October 1, 2022

This isn’t the only YouTube revenue boosting experience Google has tried lately. In the last month, some users have seen up to 10 non-skippable ads before the video. Criticism was strong, and later Google This step is called The “experiment” she “inferred”, which apparently means it didn’t happen. We could see something similar happening to the idea of ​​paying for 4K resolution, depending on how reception goes. We asked Google PR for comment, but the company said it had nothing to share right now.

The YouTube Twitter account Recently confirmed and suggested experience leave feedback about change.