Update on August 24, 2026: YouTube CEO announced via his Threads account additional markets for Premium Lite today. A quick glance at the updated support page includes many more across the MENA region.
The ‘Geographic rollout’ table has been updated to include them. This builds on the recent announcement that it’ll be launching in markets where Premium is already available.
If you thought that YouTube Premium was already a bit too pricey since they revised the pricing, they have heard your pains. Since last year, they have been testing a version known as YouTube Premium Lite – offering some of the features for a lesser cost. Now, a good number of countries in the MENA region (according to the latest support page listing) will get to enjoy it.
YouTube Premium, lighter with some Ads
Premium Lite is a lower-priced YouTube Premium membership offering fewer interruptions when watching YouTube and YouTube Kids videos ad-free, offline, and in the background. The entire idea began as a pilot back in March 2025, and then expanding to more countries till its finalstable release.
While it’s only been a few days as YouTube CEO Neal Mohan made the announcement via his Threads account as they added more countries, they don’t contain the complete list of countries. As for the features, I’ll let the official graphic (below) summarize it best.
According to the support page, Premium Lite users won’t get ads on videos like: gaming, fashion, beauty, news, and more. However, ads may still appear on music content, Shorts, and when you search or browse. This would encompass both your desktop and mobile usage.
Some of the trade-offs for this price point includes the lack of YouTube Music Premium, additional features such as continue watching, Jump ahead, queuing, or high quality audio and video, and more features.
Geographic rollout
A little bit of working using the Wayback Machine showed when the complete list was updated. Good number of countries in North Africa became eligible to sign up to the cheaper tier. So I decided to filter out the list covering the MENA and South Asia regions.
| North Africa | Middle East | South Asia |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Kuwait | Pakistan |
| Egypt | Qatar | Nepal |
| Libya | Saudi Arabia | Sri Lanka |
| Morocco | UAE (August 24, 2026) | India |
| Tunisia | Iraq (August 24, 2026) | Bangladesh (August 24, 2026) |
| Lebanon (August 24, 2026) | ||
| Oman (August 24, 2026) | ||
| Yemen (August 24, 2026) |
It’s been atleast 6.5 years since YouTube Premium was released in the MENA region, which then saw a price increase about 5 years later. If you’ve been looking for a cheaper option, Premium Lite looks to be the solution.
If you’re already a Google AI Pro user, you’ll get it free with the subscription and it’s currently available only in the following countries in the region: Algeria, Egypt, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Turkey. Although the support page lists these countries, expect them to be revised in the near future due to the expanded rollout.
Given the pricing for YouTube Premium Lite, you won’t be able to buy a family membership on this tier. In addition, Google has also confirmed that Premium Lite will expand to all countries where they offer YouTube Premium.
If you’re looking to sign up, head over to this link to see the price.
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