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A couple of users on Reddit have come forward and uploaded screenshots in which the iPhone YouTube app has restricted the 4K quality of a video to paid users only, with a text beside it that reads "Premium - Tap to upgrade."
Such a move will push several users to go for the infamous YouTube Premium subscription, which does not have much appeal.
Currently, the service offers ad-free & background play, downloads, and Music Premium, which costs $11.99 per month. Removing ads is the most lucrative feature of the subscription, which has lost its appeal with the increasing popularity of free adblockers.
Hence, Google might be looking for ways to increase the count of paid users.
US users may have to start paying for YouTube Premium to watch 4K videos
As of now, there is no official confirmation from Google. However, with the rising popularity of 4K monitors and TVs, with some smartphones also supporting high-resolution video playback, it makes sense to monetize visual quality from a business point-of-view.
Currently, this change has only been seen in the US. In the Reddit thread, multiple users who claim to be from the States have confirmed that 4K playback has been restricted to Premium users only.
Free users will be restricted to video playback of 1440p only. If they wish to view videos in 4K quality or more, which includes 8K resolution as well, a Premium subscription will be needed.
There is a high chance that this change could backfire as YouTube Premium already doesn't have the best reputation on the internet. If the company takes away the free playback of 4K videos and continues to charge $11.99 per month for it, a lot of free users will be left unhappy.
Google has been aggressively increasing the number of ads that play before and during a video. Two to three unskippable ads are being run before a video and the company is looking to increase the frequency if the duration of the advertisements is short.
A few months ago, 12 skippable ads were being tested on the platform. Later, Google revealed that skippable ads will be for a specific format only, called bumper ads, which will have a maximum length of six seconds.
With the increasing number of ads and testing of restricting 4K videos to paid YouTube users only, the number of subscriptions could largely increase. In September, the company claimed to have 50 million Premium and Music subscriptions, which is seemingly below par for Google.
