Making YouTube Premium more ”Premium“
YouTube · San Bruno, CA
The Challenge
A director challenged me to solve a deceptively simple problem: Make YouTube Premium more “Premium.” The current offering didn’t look or feel premium in the product.
Despite 15 distinct benefits for 80M+ subscribers, most users only associated Premium with “no ads” and questioned the value.
The Problem
Through UX research, I found that no matter how many features we created, users didn't know about them. Premium members couldn't identify what they were paying for. Non-members couldn’t see what they were missing.
The Insight
This was a clarity problem. Users needed to identify and understand Premium’s value within the YouTube experience itself - not through emails or marketing pages they’d never visit.
My Approach
The subscription service needs visual distinction to create clarity for users. If Premium features looked and felt distinctly elevated from standard YouTube capabilities, both members and non-members could identify what Premium actually offers.
