YouTube Premium might be better than Netflix at this point - Here's Why

Picture appears courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Netflix costs between $9-16. YouTube Premium costs only $12. However, you might be getting more bang for your buck if you choose YouTube Premium. YouTube Premium (launched in 2018; formely YouTube Red from 2015-2018) is a paid subscription service from Google's YouTube, which offers ad-free viewing of all videos across the site, plus background play, along with access to Google's YouTube Music and Play Music.

At this point, with Netflix heavily promoting it's orginial series including it's crappy "Kissing Booth 2" movie (sorry if I'm annoying you little girls, I hate Dissing Booth.) along with a bunch of random Korean s**t, YouTube Premium may be more worth it at this point. Of course, many people around here have ended up getting an iPhone (myself included) after Google decided to shove YouTube Music down everyone's throats for months now, but at this rate, you might want to think twice before making the switch to a child's toy with a permanent child lock.

So let's start and compare these two services and see what's better!

#1 - No ads

Both Netflix and YouTube offer this, so we really can't complain here. Hulu also doesn't have commercials, but recently, some shows produced for the ABC network have been getting commercials at the start and end of the episodes, so this is something that probably should be fixed (although this might have something to do with licensing restrictions with Hulu Live, which is what we have). But if I'm paying $16 a month for Netflix, I don't want to see any ads, period. $12 a month, I also don't want to see any ads, unless if I'm paying for a live television service, which believe it or not, YouTube also has as well!

#2 - Offline viewing

YouTube was able to offer this at it's launch of YouTube Red, but it took a little while for Netflix to get this available in their mobile app. YouTube offered this to both Android and iOS users starting in 2015, but Netflix wouldn't offer it until 2016, strictly for iOS users, and later for other platforms (Android, Windows Mobile, etc.) until 2017. Hulu was very late to the party, offering downloads first for iOS in 2019, and then later for Android the same year. I'm not really sure about this information, but please leave your thoughts in the comments section below if I have any false information.

#3 - YT Music / GPM included!

Now this is a drawback when it comes to Netflix and Hulu. Why bother paying for Spotify or Apple Music, when you can have music included as part of your YouTube Premium subscription! YT Music offers 50 million songs, compared to GPM's 40 million songs catalog, which will shut down on December 13. YouTube also offers live performances, covers of certain songs, and deep cuts and remixes that normally Spotify or even Apple Music wouldn't offer. This pretty much makes YouTube, the largest catalog of music of any platform, so it may be well worth it.

#4 - Background play is granted to members

Regardless of whatever video you're watching, YouTube will still continue to play in the background. Netflix and Hulu will just simply stop, with Netflix booting you out to the main screen, while Hulu just simply pauses your video. Unless if you're casting Netflix or Hulu to your TV via Chromecast, then background play will never be an option. YouTube Premium just simply offers this to all of it's members, so even if you're watching one of your favorite movies, you can still continue listening to it in the background and while your screen is locked, something that Netflix and Hulu never really bothers of offering at all.

#5 - Original content is included with the membership

Unless if you're a fan of Logan Paul or PewDiePie, then Netflix and Hulu would probably be better if this is the only thing you care about. But more recently, Google has decided to scale back over to ad-supported original content starting this year, and if you're a big fan of Cobra Kai, then you might be better off with Netflix, since it's moving over there this August.

Now let's take a look at how much bang you'll get with every one of these services!

Netflix

No ads | YES

Offline viewing | YES

Music included | NO

Background play | NO

Original content | YES

Basic: $3 | Standard: $4.33 | Premium: $5.33 / per feature, per plan

Hulu

No ads | YES

Offline viewing | YES

Music included | NO

Background play | NO

Original content | YES

$4 per feature

YouTube Premium

No ads | YES

Offline viewing | YES

Music included | YES

Background play | YES

Original content | YES

$2.40 per feature

As you can see, YouTube Premium is much better than Hulu and even Netflix's Basic standard-defintion plan at this point. If you really value YouTube a lot, or just straight-out don't want to pay for over-priced Netflix now, then you might want to give YouTube Premium a try. Just make sure you make the purchase via Google's Play Store and not Apple's App Store as Apple forces app devlopers to charge an additional 30% on in-app purchases, which that funding goes to Apple and not the devlopers. If you purchase through the iPhone, you'll be forced to pay $16 (the same price for a Netflix 4K Premium subscription), but you'll find it cheaper to pay through the Play Store, which is only the normal $12. And you can add a Google Play Gift Card to your account, which can be used to pay for your YouTube subscription.

Do you have any thoughts on how YouTube Premium might be better? Do you value YouTube a lot? Are you going to ditch Netflix and Hulu for YouTube Premium? Let me know in the comments below!