Some YouTube Premium users can now gift ad-free videos

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Summary

Some YouTube Premium members in select countries can now share 10 ad-free video links a month.
Each ad-free video link can be watched up to 10 times before it expires after 30 days.
The experimental feature is available for a limited time, and there’s a chance it could expand more broadly.

YouTube is one of the most popular video platforms on the planet, and its main source of revenue is, of course, ads. That’s why the biggest selling point of its Premium subscription is ad-free viewing, and now, its latest Premium feature lets some members give the gift of no ads.

YouTube is testing an experimental feature that lets YouTube Premium members share 10 ad-free videos a month (via Android Police). This means that when someone clicks an ad-free video share link, they can watch the entire video without a single ad interrupting them. In order for it to work, the user just needs to be logged into their Google account.

The feature is being tested in Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, and the UK. YouTube says the feature is only available for a “limited time” and that it “may expand this feature to more members in the future.” Hopefully, that means users in the US may soon be able to try it.

YouTube Premium

What’s included?: YouTube and YouTube Music add-free and in the background
Price: $14 a month
Live TV: No

I save hundreds a year with this specific YouTube Premium plan

Share your YouTube Premium membership with family members, and save a ton of cash in the process.

Only a limited number of Premium members can currently do this

If you’re a YouTube Premium member, sharing an ad-free video is very straightforward. All you need to do is tap the Share button on a video, then select Share ad-free. YouTube is only testing this experimental feature “with a small percentage” of Premium members. This means that even if you’re in one of the countries where it’s being tested, you may still not have access to it.

You can share ad-free links up to 10 times a month. After that, YouTube says that “you have to wait until the first day of the next month to get 10 new ad-free shares.” Once you send a link, the video can be watched for up to 30 days ad-free from when it was created. After that, it will just be a regular share link with ads.

Another interesting aspect of this is that each ad-free video link can be watched a total of 10 times before it expires. This means you can share the link with multiple people, not just one, allowing them all to experience the video without ads. Furthermore, even if multiple people watch the video, it still only counts as one of your 10 ad-free video shares for the month. If a YouTube Premium member clicks on the ad-free share link, it won’t count as a view either.

I think this is a really cool idea, and I hope YouTube implements it more broadly to include the US. The feature reminds me of how some news publications offer article gifting for subscribers, which allows you to share a paywalled article with a friend to read.