Google will launch ‘YouTube Premium Lite’ in Korea within the year as a video-only subscription that removes ‘YouTube Music’. The plan is priced at approx. 8,500 KRW (approx. 6.30 USD) per month on Android/web and 10,900 KRW (approx. 8.10 USD) on iOS, compared with ‘YouTube Premium’ at 14,900 KRW (approx. 11.00 USD). The gap comes to about 6,400 KRW (approx. 4.70 USD) for Android/web users.
The rollout follows the Korea Fair Trade Commission’s approval of a consent decision stemming from a tying probe. As part of the remedies, Google will freeze ‘YouTube Premium’ prices for one year and contribute 30 billion KRW (approx. 22 million USD) to EBS to support domestic music-culture programs (including the return of “Space Gonggam” free concerts and rookie discovery initiatives).
‘YouTube Premium Lite’ in Korea includes ad-free playback, background play, and downloads—an unusually complete trio for this tier, which the regulator said is not offered together elsewhere. Until now, Korean users could choose only between the bundle (‘YouTube Premium’, 14,900 KRW) and the standalone music plan (‘YouTube Music Premium’, 11,990 KRW).
Market impact bears watching. With bundling removed, users who don’t need music gain a cheaper path to ad-free video and may pair ‘YouTube Premium Lite’ with a separate music app. That could open room for local services to claw back share. Recent MobileIndex figures place ‘YouTube Music’ at roughly 7.98 million monthly active users in Korea, ahead of Melon (about 7.05 million), KT Genie Music (about 3.03 million), and FLO (about 2.01 million). Since late 2021, ‘YouTube Music’ has grown sharply while several domestic platforms have contracted, a trend this unbundled option could begin to rebalance.
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