what is youtube review

How to make a review channel on YouTube.

YouTube is a popular online platform to post review videos that share your unique perspective and opinions.

For people with special interests, a YouTube review channel is a great way to broadcast that energy. Help others make informed decisions — and entertain them along the way — with honest reviews and professionally produced videos. Here are a couple of rules to keep in mind.

Rule #1: Post honest reviews for your viewers.

Whatever you’re reviewing, if your viewers can’t trust your opinions, you won’t be able to build a YouTube following — not easily, at least.

When you are consistently open and honest, viewers can learn to rely on your opinions when they are deciding whether to purchase the hottest new technology, watch a recently released TV show, or visit a new restaurant. Successful YouTube review channels build strong reputations with their subscribers, who will want to return each time you release new content.

Rule #2: Showcase your personality and your product knowledge.

To keep viewers engaged and coming back for more, your videos should showcase your personality as well as the subject of your review. Here are a few tips:

• Show a product on camera from different angles, for a full 360° view.
• Share your opinions about where the subject of your review excels, and where it falls short.
• Put a product in context by providing examples of how it can be used.
• Talk about your personal experience with a product, including how it was packaged and shipped.
• Remember, you don’t have to limit yourself to product reviews. Easily share your thoughts on restaurants, games, movies, and whatever else you’re passionate about.

Rule #3: Create high-quality videos with a video editing program.

For a professional presentation, you’ll also want to consider your video’s lighting, audio, and thumbnail image. A good video editing program will help improve the quality of your video review, which in turn improves your audience’s experience. Whether you’re a beginning or advanced YouTuber, you can make a great impression with smart video editing tools like those found in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Explore what more you can do with Premiere Pro — start your review channel today.

How-To Geek

What is youtube premium, and is it worth it.

Thinking about subscribing to YouTube Premium? We'll help you decide if it's worth your hard-earned cash!

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What is youtube premium, the youtube ecosystem, the benefits of premium, contributing to creators, is premium worth it.

YouTube Premium is a monthly subscription service that promises to improve your viewing experience on the internet's largest video platform. Here's what you get for your money, so you can decide whether it's worth it.

YouTube Premium is the site's paid subscription service. It offers ad-free viewing of all videos, offline playback, and exclusive, paywalled content primarily made by famous YouTube personalities.

For U.S. subscribers, it currently costs $11.99 a month, and this includes a YouTube Music Premium subscription.

Google's naming schemes have always been a bit of a mess, and the same is true of YouTube. You might be familiar with a service called YouTube Red. Before 2018, that was the site's subscription tier. However, this changed to YouTube Premium following the rebranding of YouTube Music as an entirely separate app.

Since there are so many brands and services now under the YouTube banner, here's a handy guide to help you tell them apart:

• YouTube Premium:  The site's primary paid subscription service.
• YouTube Music:  A separate music streaming service with its own app that allows you to listen to music for free. It's Google's competitor to Spotify and Apple Music.
• YouTube Music Premium:  The subscription ($9.99) version of YouTube Music. Unlike the free version, it allows background play , offline downloads, and higher bitrate audio in the Music app. You can also get this as part of your YouTube Premium subscription. It currently includes access to Google Play Music , but it will soon fully replace that.
• YouTube TV :  A live TV service similar to Hulu that allows you to watch live TV and record cloud-based DVR.
• YouTube Kids :  An app designed primarily for kids, that contains only age-appropriate content. The features of YouTube Premium also apply to this.

If you're thinking of subscribing to YouTube Premium, it does have a host of features to consider. Here's a list of the service's current benefits:

• Ad-free viewing: You can view everything on the site without any ads. You also get ad-free viewing on any platform you sign in to with your Google account, including the web, smartphones, Roku, or any other streaming devices.
• YouTube originals :  You get access to original content, primarily from high-profile creators, along with some tv shows, documentaries, and movies.
• Background play:  If you're on mobile, the audio from the video you're viewing will continue to play even if you're outside the app or your phone display is closed. On Android, you can also view videos picture-in-picture while you use other apps on your phone.
• Download videos: You can  download videos or playlists to watch offline on your smartphone or tablet.
• YouTube Music Premium:  You get access to this service and all the features that come with it, as well.

Google might add additional features to Premium in the future, so stay tuned!

One of the least talked about aspects of YouTube Premium is revenue sharing.

If you already block ads on YouTube with an ad blocker , the Premium service might sound pretty useless. However, ad blockers prevent creators on the platform from receiving revenue from your views. For many, the ad revenue is one of their primary sources of income.

Related: How Much Time Does YouTube Premium Save You?

Premium offers a way for viewers to have an ad-free experience, while still contributing to their favorite content creators.

To compute this, YouTube combines a portion of all the revenue it gets from the service. It then distributes that amount to creators based on the total view time they received from Premium subscribers. So, the channels you watch most get a bigger share of the pie.

Due to YouTube's strict monetization rules, many videos get demonetized. However, a creator can still make revenue from Premium subscribers, even if her video is ineligible for ads.

Related: How to Get Started Making YouTube Videos

It depends on how often you use the service. If you frequently use the mobile app, background play and offline downloading are fantastic features to have. With so many YouTube channels now hosting long-form content, the option to listen to lengthy videos when you're not in the app is handy. It's great for listening while you drive or cook dinner.

If you most often watch YouTube from your desktop, the utility is definitely in the ad-blocking. Video ad revenues have been falling lately, which has led creators to put even more ads in their content. If you want to watch videos uninterrupted while still supporting those who make them, Premium is the only way to do so.

One thing to consider, though, is the Originals library is relatively small. If you're not interested in watching Premium content from creators, you'll probably find the selection pretty lackluster.

Related: What's Really Going On with YouTube Music? Red vs. Premium vs. Music Premium

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YouTube Self-Certification overview

When you have access to Self-Certification, we’ll ask you to  self-rate your videos against our advertiser-friendly content guidelines .

YouTube Self-Certification Program

Why Self-Certification?

Your input can help us make monetization decisions faster and more accurately. With Self-Certification:

• You can tell us what’s in your video.
• Our automated systems will then check and decide.
• If you disagree with our automated systems, you can request a human review .
• The reviewer will check out your video, and give feedback . You can see where you and the reviewer disagree (for example, “inappropriate language” or “sensitive issues”) on content within that video.

If you consistently rate your videos accurately, we’ll rely on your input over our automated systems. Your input will also be used to improve our systems for the entire community of monetizing creators.

What you need to do

With Self-Certification, you’ll need to rate:

• All new videos that you turn on ads for.
• Previously uploaded videos that you now want to turn on ads for.

You don't have to rate existing videos that have ads turned on.

Follow these steps to rate your videos against our advertiser-friendly content guidelines:

• If your video does not include content listed in the questionnaire, you can scroll down and check the box next to “None of the above”.
• The ad suitability check lets you request human review if you think our systems made a mistake.
• Choose your video’s visibility status.
• Click Done .

Are you self-rating content designated as made for kids? If so, be sure to understand our best practices for kids and family content . To find steps for marking videos as made for kids (to be able to self-certify them in Studio), visit this page .

Understand your rating status

When you’re in the program, you’ll find a rating accuracy page.

• Check your rating accuracy.
• Check where you and YouTube disagreed on the rating.
• Request feedback from our raters or view feedback our raters gave.

You can see how well your ratings history matches with that of our systems and human reviewers. We can typically determine how accurate you are after you’ve rated 20 videos. This info is important because the more accurate your ratings are, the more we can use them to decide which ads to run.

Find your rating status page

• Sign in to YouTube using your channel that’s part of Self-Certification.
• Go to https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC/videos/contentratings .
• You’ll see the status ratings page.

What each column on your rating status page means

• Video : The video being rated.
• Date rated : The date you rated your video.
• Your rating : What our systems predict your video’s monetization status will be based on how you rated your video.
• YouTube rating : What YouTube systems or our human reviewers believe this video’s monetization status should be.
• COMPUTER : This icon means our automated systems made a monetization decision.
• HUMAN : This icon means a policy specialist -- a real person -- reviewed the video.
• Request review : Our automated systems reviewed your video. Our automated systems don’t always get it right. You can click Request review to get one of our policy specialists to make a final monetization decision.
• View feedback : A policy specialist has reviewed your video and made a final decision. Once a human reviewer decides, the monetization status can't be changed. If you click View feedback , you’ll see differences between how you rated the video and how our policy specialists rated the video. Learn more about how advertiser-friendly monetization reviews work.

Program FAQs

When you have access to Self-Certification, you’ll see a message in YouTube Studio to let you know that you can now rate your videos. This typically happens a month or two after joining the YouTube Partner Program. 

If your video doesn’t meet advertiser-friendly content guidelines and you try to turn on ads, policy specialists will still demonetize your video. On the positive side, if you consistently make accurate monetization decisions for your video, you may see fewer yellow icons over time. This change is because we’re using your ratings over our automated systems to figure out what ads to run on your videos.

Use the checks page during upload

• Rate your video.
• When you rate your video as not suitable for ads and request human review, we'll expedite the review time.
• Our raters will then review your video and give a final monetization decision.
• Review the feedback from the rater.

Since we want to use your ratings to make correct monetization decisions, it’s important that you rate your content to the best of your ability.

If we see repeated, egregious inaccuracies based on our advertiser-friendly content guidelines , your channel will be reviewed for inclusion in the YouTube Partner Program.

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Common Sense Media Reviewers

Vast video site entertains, educates; iffy stuff abounds.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this website.

Kids can learn information and instruction about a

Definitely positive messages; encourages creativit

Violent content exists (including some anime, movi

Because there's such a wide variety of content, se

Plenty of crude commentary. Curse words, inappropr

Various ads appear on every page, embedded at bott

References to numerous substances in some videos a

Parents need to know that YouTube is a video-sharing site and app, and there are many videos on YouTube that may not be age-appropriate for kids. However, as of 2021, YouTube announced that it's slowly releasing more parental control options within YouTube if a parent sets up a supervised Google account for their kid…

Educational Value

Kids can learn information and instruction about a variety of skills, building knowledge by seeking out videos related to their interests. Multiple videos with step-by-step instructions for almost any hobby or pursuit can be easily found. Want to build a skateboard? Tie a slip knot? Have a lemonade stand? It's all here. School-related advice and help is also available: compute pi, conjugate verbs in Italian, etc. YouTube has tools for media creation, so kids can explore video editing with their own uploaded videos. Amount of information that can be found on YouTube is astounding.

Positive Messages

Definitely positive messages; encourages creativity, sharing. But you will come across negative messages, stereotypes, poor role models, inappropriate comments and content.

Violence & Scariness

Violent content exists (including some anime, movie trailers, video game scenes, and music videos), and sometimes users' comments are less than tame. Dangerous and emotionally distressing pranks and stunts have now been banned from the site. Still, plenty of videos are violence-free. YouTube has a Safety Mode that should block some inappropriate content, but it was easy to disable during our review.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Because there's such a wide variety of content, sexual images, innuendo, and comments exist in various places (including music videos, which are popular viewing for teens and tweens). Porn videos cannot be viewed without logging in, but it's not difficult to lie about your age to get an account, and porn-like videos can be found even if they're not labeled as such. YouTube has a Safety Mode that should block some inappropriate content, but it was easy to disable during our review.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Plenty of crude commentary. Curse words, inappropriate language can be filtered out, hidden by Safety Mode, although this is easily disabled.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Various ads appear on every page, embedded at bottom of each video (though they can be clicked on to close). Some ads are iffy, can lead to other sites. Marketers promote movies, music videos, products, more. Unboxing videos focus on products, usually toys. Users may indicate ad preferences (but can't disable ads) in settings. As of July 2022, channels can add a Shopify link to sell products at the end of videos, livestreams, and across their content.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

References to numerous substances in some videos and user comments. Enabling site's Safety Mode filters out much of it, but this is easy to disable.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that YouTube is a video-sharing site and app , and there are many videos on YouTube that may not be age-appropriate for kids. However, as of 2021, YouTube announced that it's slowly releasing more parental control options within YouTube if a parent sets up a supervised Google account for their kid. There will be three tiers of supervision: Explore (the most restrictive), Explore More, and Most of YouTube (the least restrictive). Kids with supervised accounts won't get personalized ads and can't comment or create. Also, for kids 13–17, any content they upload will be private by default, there will be "take a break" and bedtime reminders on by default, and autoplay will be off by default.

In the unsupervised experience, the app includes a feature that lets you see how much time you've spent watching videos, and you can set reminders to turn off autoplay and take a break. The site is entirely user-generated and relies on its community to flag videos that violate YouTube's terms of service (mostly for sexual content, language, and hate speech). For full reviews of the most popular channels, check out our YouTube Reviews . Channel owners can also now distribute live content, and can launch livestreams at will, which are governed by YouTube rules. Plenty of inappropriate content can surface after typing in the most innocent of search terms, so parents will want to monitor kids' use. Violent and emotionally distressing pranks and stunts have been banned from the site, and conspiracy theory videos and disinformation videos are no longer getting promoted through search. Videos here run the gamut, from commercial to educational to music videos to homemade clips. Many kids love YouTube and rely on it as a way of keeping up with popular culture. Videos go "viral" when viewers share the clips they like. One of the web's most popular destinations for people of all ages, YouTube now curates its videos, suggesting clips and new "channels" based on what you've watched previously. Kids can also discover new videos by seeing what's popular and trending throughout its immense collection. These new features can easily increase the amount of time your kids spend on the site. YouTube does offer parents the ability to filter out objectionable content and comments using Safety Mode. But Safety Mode doesn't catch everything, and it's easy to disable. YouTube also has channels by which users can access specialized content: YouTube Kids and YouTube Music . Users can also subscribe to YouTube Premium to stream videos for free, save videos for background and offline viewing, and access new original content. As of 2017, the YouTube app allows in-app messaging between users. And the app also lets users create "Shorts," which are under-a-minute, TikTok -style videos with editing features. If you're interested in more information about the site from Common Sense, make sure you check out our latest Young Kids and YouTube research report. Read the privacy policy to find out about the types of information collected and shared. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you have the right to protect your personal information. Make a Do Not Sell request to YouTube.

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (328)
• Kids say (1432)

Based on 328 parent reviews

First Page Suggestions alone are TRASH, SEXUALIZED, VIOLENT, DUMB

Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.

Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.

Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.

Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.

• Personal information is not sold or rented to third parties.
• Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
• Personalised advertising is displayed.
• Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
• User's information is used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
• Data profiles are created and used for personalised advertisements.

What’s It About?

On YOUTUBE, which is a comprehensive video library site, visitors can search -- and find -- virtually anything. Its content is entirely user-generated, so it's important to be attentive to each video's source. Plenty of age-inappropriate content can surface when you type in the most innocent of search terms, so parents will want to monitor kids' use. There are all kinds of videos available -- including lots of disturbing content -- but there's plenty of educational content to peruse and some helpful information to use.

Is It Any Good?

This video-sharing site has easily secured its place in pop culture, and is an incredibly mixed bag for kids. It offers so much to discover -- and love -- in its comprehensive video library: Information. Education. Instruction. Entertainment. Distraction. Delight. Want step-by-step guided instructions on making dozens of styles of friendship bracelets? Need to know how to create a unique Halloween costume? Want to show your kid what the robot from Lost in Space looked like or check out the Earth's solar system? You'll find that and much, much more here, including the latest viral videos of that kid or cat everyone's laughing about. The beauty of YouTube is being able to see so much in one place at any given time. But that also makes it difficult to know what your kids are finding and viewing when you're not supervising.

Yes, YouTube provides an endless source of useful information. But, as with other internet search engines, it's also rife with questionable content and inappropriate user comments that are easy for computer-savvy kids to find and view. This isn't likely to change, even with the newly created content-specific channels such as Gaming , Music , or Kids or with the paid, ad-free channel, YouTube Red. In addition, in fall 2016, YouTube debuted its Community feature for YouTube channel owners, which provides live video capabilities. Users are also able to text through the feature and share animated GIFs and images to connect with fans, who can sign up to receive notifications whenever hosts post something. What makes YouTube such an innovative site is its usefulness as a creative outlet for kids and adults alike. Homemade movies -- from silly to serious and everything in between -- are commonplace, and innovative video creations are easy to find. It's not only a place to experience and enjoy the creativity of others, but also a place to exercise your own. That said, due to the scope of what's posted -- and how easy it is to access it -- supervision is key. Check kids' Watch History, look at their subscriptions, check out the recommended videos, and use Restricted mode, or use YouTube Kids instead.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about appropriate content for kids to view. Since there are plenty of items that are inappropriate for kids, how can you tell whether your kids are watching videos that are safe for them? What if they click on a suggested video that has mature content? If you're also interested in finding out what content kids are watching, make sure to check out our latest Young Kids and YouTube research report.

Talk about digital media creation . What appeals to you about creating videos or making a YouTube channel? Do your friends have their own channels?

Discuss how your kids are using YouTube , for how long, and what they love to watch. Watch with them when you can.

Website Details

• Skills : Creativity : producing new content, Communication : multiple forms of expression, Tech Skills : digital creation, evaluating media messages, using and applying technology
• Genre : Video Sites
• Pricing structure : Paid, Free (YouTube Premium is an optional subscription ($11.99 per month) that offers ad-free and offline viewing.)
• Last updated : October 20, 2021

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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YouTube Alternatives

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• Main content

YouTube Premium is an essential upgrade for frequent users — it offers ad-free playback, downloads, and music streaming

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As someone who grew up on the internet, I've always been an avid watcher of YouTube . Over the years, the video-sharing service has become a noteworthy platform for content creators, and it has amassed a huge library of videos covering all topics.

I often forgo watching shows and movies on other apps, like Netflix or Hulu , in favor of some bite-size entertainment from popular YouTubers. But as much as I love watching the service, there is one key downside: the platform has evolved from a no-cost, commercial-free website to one full of ads.

Though YouTube's videos are still free to watch, you often have to sit through commercials before and, in some cases, during your stream. That is, unless you pay $12 a month for YouTube Premium . 

Though I held off for a while, I ultimately bit the bullet and made the switch to YouTube Premium. Now, there's simply no going back. The Premium plan only comes with four primary benefits, but depending on how much you use the service, these perks can add up to an essential upgrade.

Ad-free viewing

This is the big one. Ads on streaming services make it feel like you're just watching cable with commercials, and that's no fun. It's even worse when using YouTube to listen to a music playlist on your phone since ads distract between each song. 

Premium skips the ads altogether. Since subscribing, I'm sure I've gotten back hours and hours of time that would have gone straight into commercials.

It's also worth mentioning that you aren't shorting your favorite YouTube channels by skipping ads — content creators on the platform still get revenue from Premium subscription viewers. 

Background play

Though YouTube clumps this one with ad-free viewing as a benefit, I think it's worth its own mention. Background play means that you can lock your phone or switch to another app, and your video's audio will keep playing. 

This comes in handy during long drives where I need a navigation app, but still want to listen to that one album on YouTube that's no longer on Spotify. I'm looking at you " Without My Enemy What Would I Do " by Made in Heights. Other streams that are primarily audio-based, like video essays and ASMR, also make for good background play.

I only use this feature a handful of times a year, but it really comes in clutch when I do. YouTube Premium gives you the ability to download videos on your mobile device for viewing later when you have no internet connection. I find this especially helpful for long plane flights — I use it to save up some viewing material I want to watch.

YouTube Music Premium

YouTube Premium also includes YouTube's music streaming service built right into its subscription. YouTube Music normally costs $10 a month, so its inclusion with YouTube Premium is a huge plus.

YouTube Music isn't the best service of its kind, but it's good enough to eliminate your Spotify or Apple Music subs if you're cutting costs. 

Remember that Made in Heights album that I can no longer find on Spotify? I can listen to the whole album here, with a familiar music player interface that just makes sense. You can also download albums for offline-listening.

Is YouTube Premium worth it?

If you're like me and you use YouTube multiple times a day, YouTube Premium is definitely a worthwhile investment. 

The time I've saved on ads alone make it worth $12 a month. When you add in the fact that YouTube Premium comes with YouTube Music — which normally costs $10 a month on its own — the service becomes even more of a no-brainer.

Subscribing also supports content creators in a way that other streaming services don't. YouTube Premium views count toward a YouTuber's revenue, the same way that ad views pay them. 

If you have other interested users in your household, you can also opt for a family plan. My husband and I share a family account , which means we pay $18/month for the two of us — that's $6 less per month compared to when we were subscribed individually.

Does YouTube Premium have a free trial?

Yes! If you want to see just how much you'd actually use the service, new subscribers can give YouTube Premium a free shot for a whole month. Afterward, it'll be $12 a month.

Sign up for Insider Reviews' weekly newsletter for more buying advice and great deals. You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

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What Is YouTube: A Beginner's Guide

Find out why this video platform is so popular and fun to use

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What to Know

• YouTube is a free video-sharing website and the second largest search engine behind Google Search.
• All you need is a Google account to create a YouTube account so that you can watch videos or create your own content.

What Is YouTube?

YouTube is a video platform that's driven by two types of users:

• Video creators : People who have channels and upload videos to those channels.
• Video viewers : People who watch videos, interact with videos, and subscribe to channels.

You can be both a creator and a viewer. If you have your own channel and upload videos to it, chances are you also use YouTube to watch other people's videos.

Who Uses YouTube?

Anyone with access to a computer or mobile device and an internet connection can watch YouTube content and share their own. YouTube is for everyone, whether you're an individual looking for a creative outlet or the CEO of an organization with a large budget for a video ad campaign.

Although its user base ranges from young to old, YouTube is particularly popular among younger people who prefer the variety of content, interactive components, and instant gratification of YouTube video content over traditional television. Many use it for entertainment purposes, for learning how to do something (tutorials), for keeping up with their favorite artists' latest music videos, and more.

YouTube is available in nearly every country and over fifty languages. Since it's owned by Google, all you need is a Google account to create a YouTube account and start using it.

Get Started With Watching Videos On YouTube

There are all sorts of ways you can watch YouTube videos. These ways include:

• Navigating to YouTube.com and watching a suggested video or searching for one.
• Downloading the YouTube mobile app for iOS or Android and watching a suggested video or searching for one.
• Watching a YouTube video that was embedded into a post on a social network (like Facebook or Twitter).
• Watching a YouTube video that was embedded into a web page or blog post.
• Watching a YouTube video by clicking a link to a video that is shared by email, text message, social media, or another method.

To get personalized video suggestions, create playlists, comment on other videos, and subscribe to channels, you must create a YouTube account or associate an existing global Google account with the new YouTube account.

Learn how to set up your YouTube account for the first time.

Why You Should Create a YouTube Account

There are several benefits to creating and using a YouTube account, even if you never plan on using it for creating your own channel to upload videos. With a YouTube account, you can:

• Get personalized recommendations for videos to watch on the home page, based on your viewing history.
• Subscribe to your favorite channels so that you can easily find their latest videos.
• Receive notifications from channels when they upload new videos.
• Support your favorite creators by interacting with their videos (liking them and leaving comments).
• Keep track of your video viewing history.
• Save videos to watch later.
• Create your own public or private video playlists.
• Customize your user settings for notifications, playback, privacy, connected apps, and more.

Find Videos to Watch on YouTube

There are multiple ways you can find what you want to watch on YouTube. On the YouTube platform, you can:

• Browse videos by entering a keyword or keyword phrase in the search field.
• Find videos in topics and categories.
• Filter results by date and popularity.
• Visit the trending topics tab .
• View the charts rankings for music videos .
• View or subscribe to the Popular on YouTube channel .
• Check out the Up Next videos on the side (web) or bottom (app) of any video page to see related videos.

Interact With YouTube Videos

If you find a video that you like, you'll notice several options below the video player. You can:

• Give the video a thumbs up or a thumbs down depending on whether you like it or not.
• Leave a comment.
• Reply to another user's comment.
• Like another user's comment.

Share YouTube Videos

If you find a video you enjoy and want to share it with others, you have multiple options for sharing it. Email sharing is available, along with sharing options for the major social networking services.

Click the Share button for a video, and you're presented with several options for sharing it with friends and family.

If you want to copy and paste the video page link to share it somewhere, you can do this using the shortened link provided beneath the social share buttons after clicking Share . You can also share a YouTube video that starts playing at a specific time .

Save Videos You Want to Watch Later

Since there's such a wealth of content on YouTube, the platform makes it easy to save videos you want to watch another time to your Watch Later list or a playlist you created.

To add a video to your Watch Later list, click the Save button and then choose the list to which you want to add the video. You can also choose to create a new playlist.

Subscribe to YouTube Channels

Another way to keep up with the people whose videos you enjoy is to subscribe to that user's account. That way, every time they upload something, you are notified. It's as simple as clicking the Subscribe button on the video information page.

This is a great way to keep videos saved so you can come back to them whenever you like. 

To find the latest videos from channels you subscribe to, you'll find a link to each individual channel in the Subscriptions area of the left vertical menu or by looking for the section on the YouTube homepage labeled From your subscriptions .

Upload Your Videos to YouTube

Feel like sharing your home videos with the world? You're in good company.

There are hundreds of thousands of people around the world that upload videos every day to YouTube. YouTube has made every effort to make sure that the uploading process is as intuitive as possible.

All you need to do is select Create , find the video on your computer, fill out the necessary fields (topic, keywords, description), and upload the video.

Depending on the video's size and your internet connection speed, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes.

For a detailed walkthrough showing how to upload videos to YouTube both on the web and the mobile app, check out our tutorial on how to upload YouTube videos . You might also want to find out how to create a YouTube channel and these popular YouTube channel ideas if you're not set on a theme just yet.

Other YouTube Services

YouTube has expanded its basic video platform to include several other forms of video entertainment and interactivity. These include:

• YouTube Premium : Formerly YouTube Red, YouTube Premium is a subscription service that brings an ad-free viewing experience to all of YouTube, including all videos, YouTube Music, and YouTube Gaming.
• YouTube Movies & Shows : Watch the latest shows and movies legally on YouTube for a small rent or buy fee.
• YouTube Music Premium : Listen to music on YouTube without ads, offline, and when your screen is turned off.
• YouTube Gaming : Enjoy both live and on-demand video gaming content.
• YouTube Live : Broadcast yourself live on YouTube.

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YouTube Premium: Is it worth it? Pricing, content, and more

It has been half a decade since YouTube Premium launched. First known as YouTube Red, the service is now bundled with YouTube Music Premium and offers many perks for a better viewing and listening experience. However, although the service has matured over the years, YouTube Premium hasn’t exploded in popularity. The relentless sign-up pop-ups certainly didn’t help, but there are solid arguments in favor of subscribing. So, is YouTube Premium worth it? We detail the service’s pros, cons, price, and features below.

What is YouTube Premium?

YouTube is the largest video-sharing platform on the web, with plenty of free content for viewing. So, why is there a premium version, and what does it offer?

YouTube Premium is the platform’s paid subscription service. It replaced YouTube Red and has several benefits, notably removing all ads across YouTube services.

YouTube Premium features

So, what comes with YouTube Premium? Below is everything you can expect with your subscription:

• Ad-free videos : no annoying ad breaks on any content on any device logged into your Premium account.
• Background play : you can listen to long videos, podcasts, and music with your screen locked.
• Offline playback : you can download videos for later offline viewing.
• YouTube Music Premium : ad-free access to the dedicated music app and its catalog of millions of songs.
• YouTube Originals : ad-free Originals and access to exclusive premium content.

It’s worth noting that although YouTube Originals used to be exclusive for Premium subscribers, many are now available for everyone. Granted, the only way to watch them ad-free is with YouTube Premium.

How much is YouTube Premium?

Surely, by now, you’ve seen the pop-ups for a free month trial of YouTube Premium, but how much does it cost once the trial is up?

YouTube Premium’s three tiers have seen a slight price increase in 2023. The individual plan costs $13.99/month. There’s also a more expensive family plan at $22.99/month. A student plan is available at $7.99/month but requires some student verification. The family plan, which hasn’t seen a price jump, supports up to five family members in the same household. This is the best value option for those with kids or larger families. Since 2022, YouTube has offered an annual plan that costs $139.99/year for individuals.

As a recap, here is how much each YouTube Premium plan costs:

Is YouTube Premium worth it?

The answer is no if you are looking for a Netflix or Hulu substitute. However, if you want a more than decent music streaming service and a better viewing experience on YouTube, you can’t go wrong with YouTube Premium. It not only makes videos more enjoyable for you as a viewer, but it also supports your favorite creators.

With YouTube officially blocking ad blockers to view YouTube ad-free, YouTube Premium remains the only official way to watch your favorite creators without interruption.

So, if you haven’t tried it yet, the next time you see the annoying prompt, don’t ignore it and test the service yourself. You might find that you like it.

What we like about YouTube Premium

If you regularly watch content on YouTube, most Premium subscription perks are as good as they sound.

It is hard to understate how great the ad-free experience is until you’ve tried it. Many of us use ad blockers on our PCs, but advertisements are much harder to escape on mobile. And frankly, they pay for the content you watch, so it’s nice to find a way to skip them without harming creators. With the implementation of double pre-roll and unskippable ads, YouTube Premium’s ad-free experience is a necessity for anyone who spends a significant amount of time on the platform. Watching your favorite creators on the big screen of your TV when casting or using the smart TV app is also a lot more pleasant without constant interruptions.

Speaking of creators, however, YouTube Premium has another great advantage that is not mentioned enough: revenue sharing. A Premium subscription supports the YouTubers you love because YouTube shares a portion of the revenue for every view they receive from subscribers. This supposedly includes demonetized videos, too.

The good stuff doesn’t end there, however. The access to Premium YouTube Music included in your subscription is underrated. The service has a huge catalog of songs. I was personally able to find every obscure song I could think of. Even if some weren’t available as song files, I could still listen to the music videos with my screen locked.

The variety of genres and artists would please even the snobbiest music fans. For them, a YouTube Premium subscription could be worth it for the tunes alone. It only costs $2 more per month than Spotify Premium , with additional YouTube perks to boot.

What YouTube Premium needs to improve

When YouTube Red first launched, all the marketing seemed focused on original content. All of your favorite YouTubers but with bigger budgets — who wouldn’t want that? Unfortunately, YouTube still hasn’t delivered in this area. Nowadays, most originals are not exclusive to Premium subscribers. You can watch them with ads on a free account, but the quality seems to be deteriorating. The platform also looks to be pushing YouTubers aside in favor of celebrities.

This is unfortunate because YouTube seems to be squandering the potential of its existing creators. We have already seen how well some could do with bigger budgets. Mind Field , a documentary series by Michael from Vsauce , is the perfect example. Vsauce was already well-known for its fascinating scientific content, and Mind Field allowed Michael to dive deeper into issues by conducting experiments, interviewing experts, and more. It made for an intriguing and entertaining series.

Today, YouTube could easily repeat its success by collaborating with channels such as Kurzgesagt, Crash Course, or even someone like the Angry Video Game Nerd. Instead, we have series like Celebrity Substitute and Create Together With Me with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Even if you don’t mind the celebrity videos, Originals are sometimes easy to miss. Although I have been subscribed to Premium for a few months, I rarely get recommendations for Originals, and few, if any, have popped up on my home page. That’s a shame because some hidden gems like The Boy Band Con documentary are highly recommended. The Originals tab isn’t designed well either, making it hard to discover new things to watch.

Finally, the other major qualm some users might have with YouTube Premium is its price. Suppose you are not taking advantage of YouTube Music Premium. In that case, it’s hard to justify spending $11.99/month for an ad-free experience and some original content, especially after spending a decade or more watching most of it for free.

YouTube Premium problems and solutions

If you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber and still encounter ads, there’s likely a good reason for it. Our guide for removing ads from YouTube Premium goes into deeper detail, but as a quick guide, find some of the potential fixes below.

• Check if you’re using YouTube in an incognito window.
• You’ll also want to enable YouTube cookies in your browser, and this is how YouTube will identify your membership.
• Finally, double-check that you’re signed in to YouTube. This is particularly important if you use a Google Chrome alternative, like Firefox or Safari.

• Services & Software

YouTube TV Review: The Best Channel Selection Bar None

YouTube TV delivers a top-notch live TV streaming service experience with an extensive list of channels, but it isn't quite the value it used to be.

Updated May 15, 2023 12:01 p.m. PT

• Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. Read how we test products and services .

• More channels than any competitor, and includes PBS
• Superb cloud DVR
• Excellent on-screen interface and handy search bar
• $20 upgrade doesn't include much 4K content
• Pricier than Hulu's live plus on-demand content bundle

In the years since YouTube TV first launched , Google's  live TV streaming service  has consistently proved to be one of the best, with a superior channel selection and an unbeatable user experience. But with a recent  increase to $73 a month , the service has more than doubled in price since its debut. The overall value isn't as straightforward as it once was, especially against competitor  Hulu Plus Live TV .

YouTube TV's main strength for cord-cutters is its sheer number of channels. It now offers  77 of the top 100  networks, the most of any streaming service, a count that includes  numerous cable staples  plus all four local networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- and  local PBS stations  nationwide. 

Beyond channels, YouTube TV is easy to use: it's slick and speedy on a variety of TVs and mobile devices. Its cloud DVR is also one of the best, with unlimited storage and pretty much all the capabilities of a  hardware DVR . The service also offers a  4K streaming upgrade  -- for an additional $20 monthly -- which, importantly, includes unlimited simultaneous streams and downloadable DVR recordings.

The big snag is the price, and if you're a  cord-cutter , the cut-down  Sling TV Blue  at $40 a month is the best way to save money. At the other end of the spectrum, the $70 Hulu Plus Live TV is a slightly better value with a similar mix of channels and the addition of the modified Disney Bundle. That said, if you're used to the myriad channels and easy DVR experience of a cable service, YouTube TV's base $73 package is worth the money. It's slick, easy to use and is still a good deal for what you're getting.

What do you get?

YouTube TV is different from YouTube , the free video service with more than 2 billion users  a month. YouTube TV offers an experience similar to cable TV, with live channels and on-demand content available on a variety of devices. It works with  Apple TV , Roku , Android TV , Chromecast  and  Amazon Fire TV  along with numerous smart TVs ,  phones , tablets , game consoles and web browsers. 

The service operates in much the same way as its competitors: There's a program guide, a DVR and dozens of channels. But what is it that really separates YouTube TV from competing premium ($60-plus a month) services such as DirecTV Stream, Hulu Plus Live TV and FuboTV ? Let's take a look.

Premium services compared

YouTube TV's channel selection is excellent, with more from CNET's  list of 100 top channels than any other competitor (though Hulu isn't too far behind). However, more channels don't necessarily mean more of what you want. Some services, such as FuboTV, lean heavily on sports, while others are increasingly expansive. It's best to check the list at the end of this article, which compares individual channels across services, to ensure you're getting the channels you want. While competitors include a number of channel upgrade packages, YouTube includes everything for one price, though with one exception explained below.

The service also includes  5.1 surround sound, where available , for all subscribers (most competitors are only in stereo) and an expansion of the DVR search, which can now pick out specific sports (most useful for events such as the Olympics).

What's it like to use?

Compared to some services with multilevel interfaces, YouTube TV is fairly simple. There are three tabs at the top of the interface: Library, Home and Live. Library is where your DVR content lives, and Home is where featured and live thumbnails appear. The Live tab is a familiar-looking program grid that displays both currently playing and upcoming shows. You can search for content from the top of any page, making it relatively easy to jump straight to the programming you want. You can also perform searches with a compatible voice remote or Google Assistant . Though this is easier if you have an Android TV streamer, you could also perform searches on your Google Nest Mini and play it on a Roku, for example.

The DVR works as you'd expect -- both time-shifting live content and playing back recorded shows -- and the system assigns your recorded content to manageable categories, such as recently recorded and most viewed. The DVR also includes the ability to rewind and fast-forward freely through recordings, even ones that aren't yet completed. The Roku interface offers a 15-second skip by default, while the Apple TV's control system via the Siri Remote is even better. You can use the touchpad to scroll through videos -- and it's glorious! It's so much fun, and auto-generated thumbnails make it relatively easy to get to the part you want.

In the past, when a show appeared in a network's on-demand library, it would automatically replace the version in your cloud DVR, meaning you'd lose the ability to fast-forward through commercials. YouTube TV says it got rid of that restriction in October 2018, but some CNET readers have complained that it still occurs at times. Additionally, YouTube TV's DVR isn't truly unlimited -- the shows will expire after nine months (just like Hulu), but this is still much longer than the 30 days you get with most rivals.

Though Google used to integrate YouTube into YouTube TV -- with trailers and related content on a show's About page -- this appears to no longer be the case. However, the company is continually tweaking the interface, and we may see YouTube content appear again at some point.

Is it worth the $20 for 4K?

The 4K upgrade includes a small selection of shows, but most are over two years old.

In a word, no. There isn't enough content right now to justify the $20 upgrade, but there's one new feature that may prove the most useful, especially for travelers. Introduced to coincide with the  Olympics , YouTube TV's $20  4K Plus  add-on offers benefits, including 4K sports and on-demand, an unlimited number of simultaneous streams , and the ability to save DVR recordings for offline mobile viewing . If you're a frequent flyer or subway rider, the ability to watch prerecorded shows without an active connection could be a real boon.

As per YouTube TV's 4K page , the additional content includes shows from Discovery, ESPN, Fox Sports, FX, Nat Geo, NBC Sports and Tastemade. The interface includes a 4K button to help find content, but at present, this doesn't constitute enough to stick around for. In addition to a handful of shows, there's Thursday Night Football, "live" Premier League soccer and college football on ESPN. The NCAA adds a bunch of 4K content, but if you want football, 4K or a combination of the two, FuboTV offers even more sports for an $85 price tag.

The 4K content that is available, such as the cooking show Make This Tonight or the travel competition show Basic Versus Baller, does look good, with better contrast and color than regular broadcast TV. In context, though, the top tier of Netflix is cheaper at $18 per month and offers thousands of hours of 4K content alone, plus offline viewing.

Think of it as a cable replacement

When it originally appeared for $35, YouTube TV was an exceedingly attractive way to save money over cable. Yet as the service has piled on more channels, it's added further costs. So, when you take that $73 monthly fee and apply it to the $50 you're already paying for internet service, it means you're paying over $120 a month. Many cable TV providers will give you a TV-and-internet bundle for around the same money. Read more here: Is Streaming Actually Cheaper Than Cable? We Do the Math .

Prices vary a lot, of course, and with cable, you probably have to pay rental equipment fees, taxes and other extras. And cable providers usually reserve the best bundle pricing for people who sign a contract. The same goes for "streaming" offerings, such as  Comcast's Xfinity Flex . The reason you want to cut cable in the first place remains.

Like Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and others , YouTube TV is contract-free, so you can cancel anytime. Streaming services also have other advantages over cable. They're easier to watch on phones and tablets, for example. At $73 per month, however, you'll have to be coming from a relatively expensive cable bill to realize substantial savings with YouTube TV. 

The service comes with a comprehensive program guide.

Should you get YouTube TV?

If price is no object, YouTube TV goes neck and neck with Hulu Plus Live TV as the premier live TV streaming service, with a huge array of entertainment options and one of the best DVR/search combos on the market. It offers more channels than anyone else and its 5.1 surround is great for sports and movie fans. If you don't want to be beholden to a traditional cable company, it's a great alternative. 

Though $73 a month is a tough expenditure for some people, without a contract to worry about, you're free to jump ship to a better deal at any time. The extra $20 on top is simply a bridge too far for so little 4K content, even if unlimited streams and DVR downloads are useful for extended families or travelers. If you want the best bang for your buck, then Hulu Plus Live TV's Disney bundle is fairly unbeatable.

Lastly, if you're a hard-core cord-cutter and determined to save money,  Sling TV  Blue offers a compelling alternative, especially when paired with an antenna  or an  AirTV 2 . 

Below, you'll find a comparison of the top 100 channels offered by a few of YouTube TV's competitors. For more information and comparisons with additional services, check out the full article .

• Yes  = The channel is available on the cheapest pricing tier.
• No  = The channel isn't available at all on that service. 
• $  = The channel is available for an extra fee, either a la carte or as part of a more expensive package or add-on. 
• Not every channel a service carries is listed, just the "top 100" as determined by CNET's editors. Minor channels such as AXS TV, CNBC World, Discovery Life, GSN, POP and Universal Kids didn't make the cut.
• Regional sports networks  -- channels devoted to showing regular-season games of particular pro baseball, basketball and hockey teams -- aren't listed. 

Top 100 channels compared

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YouTube TV Review and Prices

YouTube TV ties for No. 1 in our rating of the Best Live TV Streaming Services and places No. 9 in our rating of the Best On-Demand Streaming Services. Read our review to see if YouTube TV is right for you.

Plenty of live sports

Includes unlimited DVR cloud storage

Includes local network affiliates

Less on-demand content

Why Trust U.S. News

At U.S. News & World Report, we take an unbiased approach to our ratings. We adhere to strict editorial guidelines, maintain a separate business team, and provide transparency on our methodology.

Table of Contents

What Is YouTube TV?

Youtube tv review.

• How Much Does Youtube TV Cost?

YouTube TV ties for No.1 in our rating of the Best Live TV Streaming Services of 2023 and places at No. 9 in our rating of the Best On-Demand Streaming Services of 2023. Founded in 2017 by YouTube, the Google-owned online video-sharing platform, YouTube TV is a cord-cutting alternative to cable TV, offering more than 100 channels of live TV, including sports and network television. Read our comprehensive review below.

YouTube TV Details

• #9 in  Best Overall
• #1 in  Best Live TV Streaming Services  (tie)

YouTube TV lets you watch live and on-demand TV from major broadcast and popular cable networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, AMC, HGTV, and TNT. You get more than 100 channels of live TV, including a bevy of live sports, as well as nightly broadcasts of your local news, Jeopardy , and the like. For even more options, you can also add other services like HBO Max and Showtime. There’s also an NFL Sunday Ticket package for pro football fanatics.

YouTube TV is compatible with just about any streaming device by downloading the YouTube TV app. You can watch not only on your TV, but on your computer, tablet, or phone as well. Professional reviewers say the streaming service is easy to use, with an interface that anyone who has ever watched TV should be able to navigate. Each YouTube TV account accommodates up to six different user profiles,each with its own library of favorites, watchlists, and saved shows. Only three viewers can stream simultaneously, but with each user having access to unlimited cloud DVR storage, no one in your family should ever miss an episode of their favorite show or a sporting event that they want to watch.

Bottom Line: YouTube TV is a great cord-cutting option for those who still want to be able to catch their favorite sporting events and shows on broadcast TV.

What Is the Base Price for YouTube TV?

YouTube TV costs $72.99 per month for its basic plan, which includes more than 100 channels. You will get such channels as ESPN, TNT, AMC, CNN, and Comedy Central, as well as the local affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. Your account includes six user profiles, with unlimited DVR cloud storage for each.

Streams at Once

What Other Plans Does YouTube TV Offer?

In addition to its base plan, YouTube TV allows you to add additional services. You can add channels like Shudder and MGM+ starting at $1.99 per month, and you can bundle Max, Showtime, and Starz together for an additional $29.99 per month. YouTube TV also offers 4K TV for $9.99 per month and a Sports Plus package for $10.99 per month. You can add Spanish channels to the basic YouTube plan for $14.99 per month, or if you’d prefer only Spanish TV, you can get a Spanish plan instead of the basic YouTube TV plan $34.99 per month, which comes with 30 Spanish networks and all the features of the basic plan. YouTube TV also offers NFL Sunday Ticket, which can be added to the basic plan for $349 per month, or $389 with NFL RedZone, if you need to “catch every touchdown.”

Does YouTube TV Have a Free Trial?

YouTube TV offers free trials for its base and Spanish plans but states that free trial lengths can vary.

Yes, YouTube TV offers a free 10-day trial. Afterward, you may be able to take advantage of an introductory rate before eventually paying full price. You will begin paying for the service automatically after your trial period.

What Channels Can You Watch With YouTube TV?

YouTube TV’s basic plan features more than 100 channels, including local affiliates of broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as the local PBS channel. The selection of channels ranges from sports (ESPN, ESPN2, FS1) to news (CNN, BBC World News) to comedy and entertainment (Comedy Channel, Bravo, AMC) to children’s programming (Disney, PBS Kids) to educational (TLC, Discovery) and more.

Food Network

Does YouTube TV Have Local Channels?

Yes, YouTube TV includes the local affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS networks, provided they're available in your area.

How To Watch Live Sports on YouTube TV

College Sports

NFL Network

Professional Sports

YouTube TV’s basic plan includes a wide selection of sports channels, making it easy to view most major sporting events. It offers channels like NBA TV and NFL Network devoted to the pro leagues, as well as sports-focused channels, such as Tennis Channel, CBS Sports Network, FS1 and FS2, and four ESPN channels. It also includes TNT, which regularly broadcasts NBA games, and other channels that show sporting events. You can add the Sports Plus package, which includes Fox Soccer Plus, Stadium College Sports, NFL RedZone, and more.

Visit our guide to the Best Sports Streaming Services of 2023 for more options.

How to Watch Local Channels on YouTube TV

Plenty of local channels are included with YouTube TV, such as local affiliates of broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as the local PBS channel.

How To Stream YouTube TV

YouTube TV is compatible with most streaming devices. You can use it with the Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV streaming devices, as well as Xbox and Playstation gaming consoles, by downloading the app. The same goes for most Smart TV platforms. You can also stream to your TV from a Chromecast device. You can watch YouTube TV on mobile devices by downloading the app, and on your computer in your web browser by going to tv.youtube.com.

YouTube TV vs. the Competition

Youtube tv vs. hulu.

Hulu's on-demand service ties with Max and Peacock at No. 3 on our list of the Best On-Demand Streaming Services of 2023. It also places at No. 3 in our Best Live TV Streaming Services rating. (Note, that you can get Hulu's on-demand streaming service Hulu + Live TV, which features 85-plus channels, for $69.99 per month.)

Hulu's basic on-demand plan is considerably less expensive than YouTube TV's basic plan at $7.99 per month (with ads). For that price, you get the previous night's episode of network TV shows, as well as some full seasons, from channels like ABC, A&E, FX, and TNT. Plus, you get Hulu’s original programming, which includes such award-winning shows as The Handmaid’s Tale, Only Murders in the Building, and Dopesick. You can also get the Disney+ plan for slightly more, and you can add channels like Showtime and Max for additional charges.

Of course, you won’t get the sport, news, and live TV of YouTube TV, but if you happen to be a fan of the shows available on Hulu, you might find that’s all the TV you need.

Learn more in our Hulu review .

YouTube TV vs. Netflix

Netflix comes in at No. 2 in our rating of the Best On-Demand Streaming Services of 2023 and is now perhaps the most well-known on-demand streaming service. True to its roots in the DVD rental business, it offers a wide selection of movies to watch, but in recent years it has focused on creating original films and TV programs. Shows like Stranger Things, Ozark, The Crown, and Orange Is the New Black have proven to be immensely popular and won Emmy awards to boot. It starts at $6.99 a month.

Comparing YouTube TV’s service to Netflix, which places at No. 9 on our list of the Best On-Demand Streaming Services of 2023 and costs $72.99 a month to start, is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. If you want sports and other live TV shows along with some on-demand content, then the expense of YouTube TV may be worth it. But if you’re the type to binge-watch a good drama, then Netflix may be more your speed.

Learn more in our Netflix review .

You can filter content for a particular profile in the settings to TV-Y, TV-Y7, and TV-G shows and to G and PG movies. Of course, older children can change these settings, so you may want to check your viewing history if you are concerned.

Up to three devices can stream YouTube TV simultaneously. If you sign up for the 4K Plus add-on, then an unlimited number of devices can stream at once.

Each YouTube TV account comes with up to six user profiles.

Yes, YouTube TV includes unlimited cloud DVR storage for recording programs.

YouTube TV is currently only available inside the U.S. However, you may want to use a VPN if your internet service provider throttles your download speeds. VPNs compatible with YouTube TV include NordVPN , ExpressVPN , IPVanish , CyberGhost , and Surfshark .

Learn more about VPNs here and see our rating of the Best VPNs of 202 3.

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Is YouTube Premium Worth It? 3 Things to Know Before You Sign Up

If you watch a lot of YouTube videos, you may have noticed more ads on the platform lately. YouTube Premium removes those advertisements for a monthly fee, but is it worth it?

In this article and the video below, I share what you need to know before you sign up.

1. How Much Does YouTube Premium Cost? 

• Individual: $13.99 per month
• Individual: $139.99 for 12 months
• Family: $22.99 per month
• Student: $7.99 per month

The price of YouTube Premium varies depending on the device that you use when signing up.

On the YouTube Premium website , the price for individuals is $13.99 per month after a free trial. The price increased by $2 per month in July 2023.

But I noticed the price is higher from the YouTube app on an iPhone — $18.99 per month.

Here’s why: YouTube is passing along a charge from Apple when people use their iPhones and iPads to purchase the subscription through iTunes. This is sometimes called the “Apple Tax.”

To avoid the higher price, sign up for the service on YouTube Premium’s website from a computer.

In addition to YouTube Premium’s monthly plan, there’s a discount if you pay for a year in advance. The annual plan costs $139.99 through YouTube’s website.

Family and student plans are also available. Learn more here.

If you’re a current YouTube Premium subscriber who pays monthly, you will not see the annual option from your account.

Here’s how you can change your membership:

• Cancel your monthly YouTube Premium plan from the account dashboard
• Wait until the current billing cycle ends and you’re no longer a Premium member
• Log in to your account and sign up for the annual YouTube Premium plan

The annual payment option is only available to individual YouTube Premium subscribers, not families.

2. What Features Do You Get With YouTube Premium?

These are the main benefits of signing up for YouTube Premium:

• Ad-free experience
• Background play
• Downloadable videos

YouTube Music Premium

Ad-free experience.

YouTube Premium removes the ads from videos, even the ads that you can typically skip after a few seconds.

Some people choose to install ad blockers to avoid internet ads.

Premium is different. It eliminates the ads, but the service also ensures that the creators you watch still get paid for their work.

Here’s what YouTube says about that on its website :

“Currently, new revenue from YouTube Premium membership fees is distributed to video creators based on how much members watch your content. As with our advertising business, most of the revenue will go to creators.”

While YouTube Premium removes ads served by YouTube, you may still see an advertisement if the creator you’re watching has a paid sponsorship or brand deal. YouTube doesn’t control these ads.

As part of my editorial policy to provide trustworthy reviews, none of my content is sponsored.

Background Play

With YouTube Premium, you can press play on a YouTube video from the mobile app, and it will continue to play as you navigate to other apps and even when the screen is turned off.

If you like to listen to longer YouTube videos as background noise, this feature will come in handy.

Downloadable Videos 

Premium members can download videos to watch offline.

This is helpful if you’re trying to limit cellular data usage, or if you know you’ll be traveling through an area with limited or no reception — like on an airplane.

After you’ve downloaded a video, navigate to the Library tab from a mobile device and click Downloads.  

You also have the option to turn on Smart Downloads .

When this feature is activated, YouTube will automatically download 20 recommended videos per week when you’re connected to Wi-Fi.

YouTube Music Premium is another popular benefit included with your subscription.

This is a separate app from YouTube. The YouTube Music app has millions of songs and videos from your favorite artists.

They’re available to download for offline listening, plus you can use background play. 

3. How Do I Know If YouTube Premium Is Worth It? 

If you’re not sure whether YouTube Premium makes sense for you or your family, here are three things to consider:

• Your ad tolerance
• Your overall streaming setup

The more time you spend on YouTube, the more likely a Premium subscription will be worth it.

YouTube provides usage stats to all users. Click your profile icon , then Time watched and you’ll see a summary of your watch time history.

This data is for YouTube only, not YouTube Music or YouTube TV. 

Ad Tolerance

The second thing to think about is how disruptive you find the ads, which is going to depend on the content that you watch on the platform. 

Personally, I appreciate that YouTube lets me skip a lot of the ads.

However, I finally signed up for YouTube Premium after noticing an ad from the same company being shown on a lot of videos.

The length of the ads didn’t bother me, but the repetitiveness did.

Overall Streaming Setup

The third thing to consider is how subscribing to the service would affect your overall streaming setup. 

Would you spend more time on YouTube without the ads? And would you take advantage of other Premium benefits, including the separate music app? 

If so, you may be able to cancel another subscription to offset the cost.

Final Thought

I’ve enjoyed YouTube Premium and decided to keep it after my free trial. But my biggest hurdle is a mental one. 

I pay for YouTube TV for part of the year. So when you add up the cost of YouTube TV and YouTube Premium, it feels like an awful lot of money going to YouTube every month. 

There is no discount if you subscribe to both YouTube TV and YouTube Premium.

What do you think about YouTube Premium? Add to my review down below in the comments!

More Michael Saves Articles You May Like:

• How to Cut the Cord in 7 Simple Steps
• Best Live TV Streaming Services to Replace Cable
• How to Stream TV and Save Money

4 thoughts on “Is YouTube Premium Worth It? 3 Things to Know Before You Sign Up”

I cut the cord today on Xfinity cable TV, which was costing me $266 a month (TV, modem rent, all those fees, etc). I was able to double my speed to 800 mbps, get an updated modem, and Flex TV free for $135 which includes my HBO max continuation. That sounds great, but in order to get major broadcasts live (CNN, NBC, MSNBC, etc) I stilll need youtube TV. So, my cost is actually 213-ish. So, the cost savings is frankly only about $50 bucks a month, to include cloud DVR, etc I didn’t have with Xfinity old plan. If I were to purchase “add free” Premium for family…then I’m actually not saving more than about $30 bucks. While nice, it’s hardly a significant bargain to go with Youtube TV….

Hi, If you sign up for You Tube Premium, can you DVR the programs without the Ads? And if you have the family plan, does each person have their own Library of DVR programs? Thanks

Since it’s regular YouTube, there is no DVR. But you can download videos to watch later with Premium.

This is a late commentary …But… We switched over to YouTube TV after dish network was raising our rates and would not budge despite the fact we were 20 year customers. That has worked out and I decided to add YouTube premium because after a trial period of no ads it was decided to be worth it. It seems like YouTube raised the rate almost as soon as we enrolled, but we do use the Music app and that’s fine for now and we dropped HBO… because HBO dropped so much Content.

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YouTube TV review: A reasonably priced cable TV alternative

Youtube tv is a simple and robust live tv streaming service for cord-cutters.

Tom's Guide Verdict

YouTube TV offers a robust channel lineup for a reasonable price.

Unlimited DVR

Local channels

Easy to use

Now $73 per month

No HBO add-on

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

Cord cutters have never had it easier, thanks to an increasing number of live TV streaming services like YouTube TV . It is one of the most robust of the best cable TV alternatives , delivering over 100 channels including local broadcast networks (depending on your region). 

Because of that breadth of content, it's priced at $72.99 ($8 more than before, thanks to the April 2023 YouTube TV price hike ). And subscribers angrily pointed to that price hike when YouTube TV's NBA Finals glitch interrupted the final minute of the series.

YouTube TV has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface and is available on every major platform, including iOS, Android, Xbox and select smart TVs. The YouTube TV iPhone app is about to leapfrog YouTube's app . What really sets it apart from competitors is unlimited DVR storage — there are no caps on simultaneous recordings and you can keep recordings for nine months. One competitor, though, is catching up on that.

The subscription also includes access to YouTube Originals, such as the Karate Kid series Cobra Kai, as well as the option to add premium channels, including Showtime. In that category, YouTube TV falls behind its biggest competitor, Hulu with Live TV , which comes with award-winning shows like The Handmaid's Tale and Ramy — and we've got a detailed breakdown of the two services in our YouTube TV vs Hulu + Live TV face-off.

But if all you're looking for is access to local channels and top cable networks, plus unlimited DVR storage, then YouTube TV is a great cable TV alternative .

YouTube TV pricing and availability

To sign up for YouTube TV, you need a Google account. The streaming service offers a free two-week trial. After that, YouTube TV costs $72.99 per month for access to up to 100-plus channels. That's the new price as of April 2023. It last changed on June 30, 2020, when it was previously $49.

That's in the ballpark of its main competitors. Hulu with Live TV costs $70, and Fubo's entry-level Pro Plan is $75. Sling TV starts at $40 per month for 31 to 41 channels, but to get all the broadcast networks, you need an antenna (which also comes with Air TV devices to integrate the channels into the Sling TV app). Philo TV is very low-cost live TV streaming service at $25 per month, but the channel lineup is somewhat lackluster.

Your exact channel line-up on YouTube TV will depend on where you live, so enter your ZIP code to see which local networks you get. YouTube TV also offers premium add-on channels and packages, which you can read more about below.

YouTube TV is available to stream to your TV with Chromecast devices (or on a Chromecast TV), via Apple AirPlay or Google Smart Display. You can also watch on a web browser on Mac and Windows computers.

Every subscription comes with up to six accounts and three simultaneous streams, so different family members can customize their libraries. 

YouTube TV interface

YouTube TV's interface will be familiar to anyone who's ever used YouTube. The utilitarian design is simple, intuitive and extremely easy to use. It's not pretty (the Philo streaming service's interface is much slicker) but it does what it needs to do. Finding shows and movies is a breeze, as is navigating what's airing live at the moment. 

The interface toggles between three screens: Home, Library and Live. At the top of Home is a top picks selection, essentially a mix of shows you've saved, shows you've watched and related shows based on your favorites. Below that is a section filled with recommendations to add to your library, serving as a helpful reminder of upcoming shows and movies you may want to record. 

Further down the Home page are categories for sports, news and movies as well as YouTube Originals.

Library is the home for your DVR, displaying your saved shows, movies and other programming and upcoming recordings. 

The Live screen is a cable-television-like grid on some devices (like web browsers, gaming stations and smart TVs). On smaller devices, such as phones, Live presents a list of what's airing on all the channels you get.

Every platform also has a Search tool in the navigation bar, which takes you to an intuitive search page. YouTube TV shines here — not surprising since it's owned by Google. You can search for a show or movie title, a person or even themes and genres (for example, "Oscar winning movies"). The search is lightning fast, and results begin populating as you type. They're broken down by live and upcoming airings, recordings from your library and what's on demand. 

The show and movie profile pages are well-designed and extremely robust. A show profile page displays available and upcoming episodes, cast members and related videos from YouTube. In the case of Friends, those include clips of Jennifer Aniston on late-night programs. There's also a section touting similar shows.

YouTube TV content and channels

YouTube TV's channel lineup is great and on a par with what's available on competitors like Hulu with Live TV and Sling TV. YouTube TV recently added the Viacom family of cable channels, including BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as the premium network Showtime. And football fans will be happy that the service is adding NFL Network. The new additions have made YouTube TV's channel lineup one of the most complete among cable TV alternatives. Check out our YouTube TV vs. Sling TV face-off to see how those two services fare in head to head combat.

The cable networks include ESPN, CNN, AMC, HGTV, TBS, TNT, the Disney Channel and USA. But the lineup is missing Viacom networks like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The only live TV services that have those networks are FuboTV and Philo.

YouTube TV offers local broadcasts of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, depending on your region. The service says it has complete local network coverage in over 98% of U.S. TV households.

YouTube TV's begun rolling out multiview, so you can watch multiple channels at the same time. Now, we have a better idea how YouTube TV multview works — after more options were added for channels and kinds of content.

There are a number of premium add-on channels you can include in your plan, too, each with a separate monthly fee. YouTube TV is also adding a new Sports Plus add-on with NFL RedZone, Fox College Sports, GOLTV, MAVTV, Stadium, and TVG. If you want more international sports, check out our Fubo TV review .

As noted, YouTube TV is losing the MLB Network, but it could come back if the two sides agree on a new deal. 

Be warned that there are a lot of ads, though that isn't YouTube's fault since advertising is preprogrammed by the networks.

As far as content, it's nice to have access to YouTube Originals but the offerings are fairly meager. YouTube isn't trying to compete with the likes of Hulu or Netflix in original programming. Also, YouTube TV is cheaper than Hulu with Live TV, so you're paying less for less content.

YouTube TV DVR

YouTube TV's best feature is its unlimited DVR. You can save all the recordings you want for nine months. There's no cap on simultaneous recordings. 

This used to be a relatively rare thing in the market. But then Hulu with Live TV finally stepped up to match. Now that service has unlimited DVR as well. Both services keep your recordings for nine months before deleting them. DirecTV Stream is also adding unlimited DVR, but it's only available to new customers right now, and they only hold onto recordings for 90 days.

That's better than Sling, which includes 50 hours by default. You can jump up to 200 hours for $5 more per month.

Saving shows and movies is extremely easy — just click the plus sign on a show page or next to the title when you're watching. YouTube TV will then record every episode on any channel (or just once for movies).

Since the DVR is unlimited, you can't delete a recording after you've watched it. This is fairly standard for streaming services; only Sling gives you the option to delete saved recordings.

YouTube TV video quality

YouTube TV supports up to 1080p, depending on the channel and program. Most of the content I watched played at 720p. 

Still, by even offering some channels at 1080p, YouTube TV vaults over its competitors. Hulu with Live TV only just started streaming some channels at 1080p. Sling doesn't have detailed information about its streaming resolution, while Philo streams live TV at 720p and on-demand at 1080p.

Regarding how quickly programs achieved HD resolution, it was quick — usually around 5 seconds. That's standard for livestreaming services. 

On a fast home connection, programs held steady after stabilizing, but on slower networks, there was some fluctuation in HD quality while playing.

Bottom line

YouTube TV is one of the best options for cord-cutters looking for a live TV streaming service to replace their cable television package. For $73 a month, you get quite a lot — a strong channel lineup, unlimited DVR and an easy-to-use app available on every major platform. The service doesn't have everything, but none of them do. You can get Sling for less than YouTube TV, but receive a smaller channel lineup. You can pay even less than that, just $20, for Philo, but you won't get local channels or top cable networks. 

If you want live TV at a reasonable price, YouTube TV may be your best bet.

Next: You can read about how I can't live without the YouTube TV key plays feature .

Kelly is the streaming channel editor for Tom’s Guide, so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, TV Guide and other outlets. When she’s not watching TV and movies for work, she’s watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.

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• T2Jock The reviewer missed one of the most important features of YouTubeTV: Included in the price for many localities is the regional sports network. For example, my subscription (Massachusetts based) includes New England Sports Network, giving me the Red Sox games during the summer. To my knowledge this makes YouTube TV the first to offer these regional sports networks. Reply
• SamTab I was very happy with the service except for the absolutely screaming commercials on some of the channels (Bravo, for example). Total deal breaker for us. Went back to Roku with Locast for local channels. Very disappointed in YoutubeTV and their customer service. Reply
• T2Jock SamTab, what about the customer service was a problem? I'm now two, almost three, months in as a subscriber and pretty happy. The ability to have six users (logins) on one account has worked well for us. My daughter and her family cancelled their FIOS TV service (they still have their Internet thru FIOS) and are on my account. I like the user interface and my only complaint is that they don't support 4K. Reply
• Mitchell Hayes Beware of YouTube TV's fake channels. One of the 'channels' listed in YTTV advertising is a perennial favorite, Turner Classic Movies. But what you get is not the TCM you love. TCM on YTTV is simply several collections of movies that have been recorded by YouTube 'stars' on home equipment and then uploaded as TCM presentations, complete with TCM logos and intros. Truth is, most of these movies are so grainy and blurry that they're simply not worth watching. So once again TCM becomes a pawn used to trick customers into subscribing, much like the monstrous act by Comcast who simply ripped the real TCM from legitimate subscriptions and made it part of a sports package available for an extra ten dollars a month. I am stunned by the YTTV trick. Is this act condoned and endorsed by TCM? All in all it's a very disturbing situation. Reply

admin said: YouTube TV is easy to use, available on every platform and offers a strong channel lineup. YouTube TV review: A reasonably priced cable TV alternative : Read more

• Souplos_ms My family has had YoutubeTV ever since Playstation Vue got shut down (a very sad day as Vue had set very high UX standards). While the current YTTV channel lineup and DVR capability are among the best, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned what a heap of garbage the YTTV guide experience is, no matter the app platform: On the Roku app, you get a matrix of channels but are limited to seeing not even the next 24 hours, but just the rest of the day ! So if it's 9pm, you can only browse and record the programming of the next 3 hours. YTTV Guide Strike #1. So next what do you do? You go to your phone and hope to see the next few days of programming over there. What you get is still limited but a bit better - the next 24 hours - but there's a catch... you can't see more than one channel's listings at a time ! That's YTTV Guide Strike #2. The last bastion of hope lies on the Youtube webapp, where new features seem to be tested first. And you'd be right to bet that the guide there gives you more options. The good news: A whopping 7 days of listings available, hurray! Is there a catch here? Unfortunately yes: It takes a dozen clicks of an arrow button to sloooowly scroll into the future, a few shows at a time just to get to the next 48 hours. So, multiply those clicks to get up to day 7...that is if you don't decide to give up before that. This is where PlaystationVue's date selector feature came in very handy. Come on Google, it's not that hard! YTTV Guide Strike #3. A final YTTV Guide strike is given to the fact that you can't go back in time to see programs you may or may not have recorded. Now you may say "so what if I can't go back in time? If it was recorded it will be tagged as recently recorded, or I can look up the show" (good luck if you just wanted to verify that a specific show did a rerun or not). That's true...you could fumble your way in YTTV's arbitrarily categorized "daytime, evening, etc." options for a given channel or try the Search, but what if the programming changed and the show isn't named the way you thought? Or what if an important event occurred in the news cycle and you want to see the show in which the news broke? You then have to do a small investigation just to figure out what shows were running at the time. Super annoying!Ok I know this was quite the tirade but I wanted to make a point about the inconsistency and lack of maturity of the YTTV guide experience, especially now that we've had a price hike that made this an even more expensive proposition than most cable cutting services out there. We should demand a much better experience than what we're getting. Is my family the only one as upset about the guide? Or is it because we had gotten a taste of something much more intuitive to compare it to, while a majority of YTTV users may have not? I'd love to hear what others have to say about it. Reply

AGAINST Lackluster originals No Viacom channels No HBO add-on

• Timesetter I've had YTTV for a couple years now. Initially, and for the first year, year and a half, it was awesome. It was exactly what I needed in a TV service. Great price, enough channels, including local television. Then something changed. The price increased. Then the channels increased without the choice to stay at the original base model I signed up for. Then the commercials started replaying over and over and over. Then the commercials were synchronized with other channels. Now the price has increased again, now it's $70+ and I still only watch the same, original channels I signed up for. I signed up for like $52 or so after tax. I didn't need more channels. I didn't sign up for more channels. And the reason I signed up is no longer valid. I'm ditching YTTV. And it's really too bad, because it was pretty awesome for awhile. Reply

Souplos_ms said: Is my family the only one as upset about the guide? Or is it because we had gotten a taste of something much more intuitive to compare it to, while a majority of YTTV users may have not? I'd love to hear what others have to say about it.

• kw22631 Am I the only one who has a really nice surround system? Not one person, unless I missed it, said anything about the lack of sound other than a 2 channel stereo feed. I was set to change and as I set here trying it out, the sound was not surround! I had to dig to find out it is still living in 1999. When you put together a 7.2 system with an expensive receiver, the lack of SS is a deal breaker. Reply
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Home » TV Service

YouTube TV Review 2023

YouTube TV is one of the most complete live TV streaming services on the market

We may earn money when you click our links.

If you’re looking to cut the cord, YouTube TV is a solid choice.

YouTube TV combines the best of all things TV and streaming has to offer with access to live TV, on-demand movies, full seasons of popular TV shows, unlimited DVR storage space, YouTube videos, and the latest news clips.

So basically, everyone from your die-hard Seattle Seahawks fan dad to your princess-loving younger sister will have something to watch.

• Channels, sports channels, and premium channels
• YouTube TV app and compatible devices
• Final thoughts

How much does YouTube TV cost?

Youtube TV costs $73 per month . If you’re a fan of sports, lifestyle, and broadcast channels, 100 channels at that price is a huge win for everyone in the family—especially if you’re the one paying the bill.

YouTube TV was named our second favorite live TV streaming service (behind fuboTV) because it's a service you'll find yourself sticking with for many years.

It has an unlimited cloud DVR storage space and won’t erase your recordings until nine months have passed.

YouTube TV was an excellent pick for sports entertainment with NFL Network and NBA TV; however, YouTube TV's MLB Network deal ended in January 2023. But , YouTube TV is now the only service to offer NFL Sunday Ticket .

YouTube TV gives you on-demand content and live TV channels. You also get a vast amount of choices for whatever mood you happen to be in. You’ll find drama, comedy, reality, action, mystery, and documentaries all in one place.

Does YouTube TV have fees?

There are no hidden fees or penalties for canceling your subscription ( high five, YouTube TV! ).

And if you want to take a break without losing all of your Family Feud recordings, then you can pause your membership for up to six months and come back to watch Steve Harvey's priceless facial expressions.

Which channels does YouTube TV have?

One of the main reasons YouTube TV is one of the best all-around services is because of its channel lineup. Most families could live happily with the channels this live TV streaming service provides.

If you want to know why we chose YouTube TV as one of the best live TV streaming services for sports , scroll down a little to the sports channels section.

YouTube TV news, lifestyle, and kids channels include the following:

• BBC America
• Cartoon Network
• Disney Channel
• ESPN, ESPN 2
• Food Network
• Hallmark Channel
• Nickelodeon
• Paramount Network
• Universal Kids

Also, a bonus feature lets you hide channels you’re not interested in.

You and your family will be able to record or watch your Chopped , Sunday NFL Countdown , favorite Hallmark movies, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse simultaneously.

But you won’t be able to watch Ancient Aliens, The Open, or some baseball games because YouTube TV doesn’t have the HISTORY Channel, the Tennis Channel, or MLB Network. If you need these channels, fuboTV 's got them. 

Which local channels does YouTube TV have?

Now for the local channels. YouTube TV offers ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC for your local news and sports needs. But it could still vary depending on your location, so go ahead and check availability to make sure you get Let's Make a Deal on your device.

Which premium channels and add-ons does YouTube TV have?

YouTube TV offers monthly subscriptions to premium channels on top of the base monthly price of $72.99. You’ll be able to watch White Lotus during your break at work and Billions while your spouse shops.

You'll also get a 5 to 14-day trial before you commit to the monthly cost.

And the best part is YouTube TV offers all of the premium channels so you can have all of your channels in one place.

Which sports channels does YouTube TV have?

YouTube TV offers 14 sports channels, and it also has a Sports Plus add-on package that includes the NFL RedZone Channel , beIN Sports, GolTV, Fox Soccer Plus, Fight Network, and Stadium for $11 per month or $80 a year.

So for all you NFL and soccer fans, you can get a more complete sports lineup with YouTube TV's new channels and its Sports Plus add-on for about $83 per month.

After the season is over, you can simply cancel the add-on if you'd like.

YouTube TV includes the following sports channels in its lineup:

• ACC Network (ACCN)
• Big Ten Network (BTN)
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN, ESPN2
• FOX Sports (FS1), FS2
• Golf Channel
• NBC Sports Network
• NFL Network
• SEC Network

If Roger Federer is your tennis idol or you simply like watching Rafael Nadal's backhand, you won't be able to watch replays of either of them with YouTube TV as it doesn't have the Tennis Channel.

You won't find the PAC-12 Network either. And even more recently, YouTube TV's agreement with MLB Network ended in January 2023, so you won't be able to watch some Spring Training or regular season games.

But if you're a committed one-team fan, YouTube TV's NFL Sunday Ticket might be the move for your team. You'll get all out-of-market games straight to your smartphone, tablet, or TV. 

Most NFL fans will benefit from the NFL RedZone Channel for the Sunday games, so take a look at our comparison of NFL RedZone Channel vs. NFL Sunday Ticket before the 2023 NFL season. 

Bonus for sports fans

When you click the information button on your game, you’ll get details of the current score and the lineup. If you’re watching a recording, you’ll be able to see the final score and stats. How awesome is that?

How much DVR storage space does YouTube TV have?

YouTube TV has one of the best DVR's in the TV industry. (It used to have thee best, but Hulu + Live TV decided to up its game and now has an unlimited DVR storage space too.)

Unlimited space for no extra cost and recordings will stay in your Library for up to nine months? We'll take it .

But your device must be connected to the internet to view your recordings. This isn’t a huge problem unless you travel a lot on a restrictive data plan and must be connected to Wi-Fi .

You can record all of the 2023 NBA games , your roommate can record all of The Office episodes, and you both can record all of the movies your hearts desire.

Which devices is YouTube TV compatible with?

In case you want to watch First Take on the train to work or your kids want to watch Paw Patrol  while you're grocery shopping, you're going to need to know if your device is compatible with the YouTube TV app.

But there shouldn't be any issues, because YouTube TV is compatible with most devices. Here are a few to choose from:

• iPhone, iPad
• Android smartphone, Android tablet
• Roku TVs, Roku smart soundbar
• Roku Ultra, Roku Streaming Stick, Roku Express, Roku Premiere
• Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cubes
• Vizio SmartCast TVs
• Samsung & LG smart TVs
• HiSense TVs
• Chrome, Safari

You can also watch YouTube TV on multiple devices with up to six accounts and three simultaneous streams.

We should also mention that YouTube TV suggests you have at least a 3 Mbps internet connection to stream and a 7+ Mbps for HD quality while using the app.

Recap: Is YouTube TV worth it?

YouTube TV is a solid option for cord-cutters because you get all of these things for $73 per month:

• More than 100 channels
• NFL Network, NBA TV, Big 10 Network, and SEC Network
• Disney Channel, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, and  Nickelodeon
• An unlimited DVR storage space that saves for nine months
• Access to all of the premium channels
• NFL Sunday Ticket plus NFL RedZone bundles
• A Sports Plus add-on to get the NFL RedZone Channel

Compared to some of the other live TV streaming services, they're not as well-rounded as YouTube TV because they either don't offer as many channels for this price, don't have all of the major sports channels in their lineup, or don't have an unlimited DVR storage space.

If you like live sports, movies, a DVR with no limits, and a variety of channels that makes everyone in the house happy ...  you’ll like YouTube TV .

But if you need to get your college football fix with the PAC-12 Network or you just can’t live without the HISTORY channel, then YouTube TV might not be for you.

If you're not sure if YouTube TV is for you, we suggest checking out our review on fuboTV , our number one pick for live TV streaming services. 

How much is YouTube TV per month?

YouTube TV is $73 per month for 100+ channels, including Disney Channel, ESPN, HGTV, Nickelodeon, and MSNBC.

YouTube TV also has a Spanish plan for $35 per month with 30+ Spanish-language channels, like Univision, Unimás, y Estrella TV.

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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2023: How to watch, what time it starts, who’s performing and more

The 97th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City will return Thursday, featuring 25 balloons of all shapes and sizes, 31 floats and 18 all-star performers, including Jon Batiste and Cher.

The parade will be hosted by NBC's "TODAY" show stars Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker.

What time is the parade?

The parade kicks off at West 77th Street and Central Park West at 8:30 a.m. ET and ends outside Macy's Herald Square on 34th Street at noon.

Those hoping to snag spots at the beginning of the parade may arrive as early as 6 a.m.

Where can you watch it in person?

There are 2.5 miles of public viewing this year along the parade r oute . Certain areas aren't open to public viewing.

• Central Park West, from West 75th to West 61st streets: Early risers can watch the beginning of the parade along this stretch. Avoid the section between West 59th and West 60th streets, where there is no public viewing.
• Central Park South and 6th Avenue: Spectators can catch a view of the parade just after it turns at Columbus Circle onto Central Park South but before it switches onto 6th Avenue.
• 6th Avenue, from West 59th to West 38th streets: Viewers can get as close as possible to the end of the parade here, but avoid the area on 6th Avenue between West 34th and West 38th Street, where viewing is limited.

How can you watch it at home?

You can also watch the parade on NBC or stream it live on Peacock from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

NBC and Peacock are owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.

Who is performing this year?

Eighteen performers, 29 clown crews and 11 marching bands will participate. The festivities will kick off with Batiste and end with Cher.

Other famous faces in the parade include En Vogue, ENHYPHEN, Jessie James Decker and Pentatonix. Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Chicago will appear on The Wondership, a float sponsored by Wonder Bread.

Actor and singer Ashley Park, known for her roles in "Emily in Paris" and "Joy Ride," will appear on the 1-2-3 Sesame Street float alongside the cast of the Muppets.

Actors from several Broadway shows, including "& Juliet," "Shucked" and "Back to the Future: The Musical," will also perform.

What's new this year?

Seven new character balloons will take flight this year, alongside 18 others that have flown through the streets of Manhattan before. There will also be six "Balloonicles," smaller balloons that will wheel down the route attached to cycles.

For an early preview of the balloons, head to West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue on Wednesday. The balloons will be inflated outside the Museum of Natural History from noon to 6 p.m. ET.

New balloons this year include a five-story-tall Pillsbury Doughboy, "One Piece" character Monkey D. Luffy and Po from "Kung Fu Panda" doing a flying kick. Fan favorites like Smokey Bear, Grogu from "The Mandalorian" and SpongeBob SquarePants will be returning.

This year's parade will also feature four new floats, including a replica of Willy Wonka's candy shop, a cityscape from "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," a 30-foot-tall gingerbread house and a replica of an outdoor campsite — sponsored by Snoop Dogg brand partner Solo Stove.

What are the security concerns?

Amid increased security tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said law enforcement is on high alert. She told reporters Tuesday that no credible threats have been made to the parade.

Organizers advised spectators to avoid bringing large bags, umbrellas, backpacks and strollers.

Natalie Kainz is a news associate for NBC News.

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‘JFK: What the Doctors Saw’ Review: A Clinical Take

Barbara Shearer’s documentary unpacks the medical opinions of physicians who treated John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

By Natalia Winkelman

Amid a climate of invigorated interest in the assassination of John F. Kennedy — stoked by the media capitalizing on the 60th anniversary of his death to reignite familiar debates — Barbara Shearer’s “JFK: What the Doctors Saw” contributes some clarity to the conspiratorial noise by centering on a tiny piece of the puzzle: the professional opinions of the physicians present in the president’s Parkland Memorial Hospital emergency room.

While some documentaries feel like rundowns of a Wikipedia page, “What the Doctors Saw” ( streaming on Paramount+ ) more closely resembles a Q. and A. session with Siri. What did the staff observe? An entrance wound on Kennedy’s throat. What does that suggest? A bullet entered from the front. Why is that significant? It contradicts the findings of the Warren Commission.

I’m willing to bet that viewers drawn to this documentary will have a basic knowledge of the history. It is smart, then, that this film so clearly defines its scope. Rather than dwell on the actions of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, the documentary dedicates its running time to medical analyses, unpacking the inconsistencies between injuries that doctors observed in Dallas and the autopsy report conducted in Bethesda.

This approach also has its drawbacks. The recollections of those who treated Kennedy in Trauma Room 1 at Parkland are remarkably consistent, which is another way of saying that much of this documentary is remarkably repetitive. You will finish the film agreeing that what the doctors saw is crucial. But what it all means for America’s most enduring mystery is less clear.

JFK: What the Doctors Saw Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on Paramount+ .

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Ridley Scott Is Daring You to Watch ‘Napoleon’

Hollywood’s cantankerous elder statesman casts Joaquin Phoenix as Bonaparte by way of Monty Python, but the movie’s bluster ultimately lacks clarity

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“History,” said Napoleon Bonaparte, “is a set of lies agreed upon.” That sound you hear 200 years later is Ridley Scott banging his fist on a table with appreciation before shooting a scene in which the man known as “The Nightmare of Europe” literally fires a cannon at the Great Pyramid of Giza .

In the present day, the 85-year-old director’s press tour for his latest film, Napoleon , has been a tour de force of white-hot fury not unlike his subject’s military campaigns: a vicious, take-no-prisoners assault against anyone sweating the integrity or veracity of his latest $200 million epic. After initially instructing any dubious by-the-book biographers—or egghead TikTok stars —to “get a life” instead of nitpicking Napoleon ’s script, Scott doubled down in a riotous interview with The Sunday Times . “When I have issues with historians, I ask: ‘Excuse me mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the f*** up then.’” He went even further in a chat with the BBC, responding to a series of negative reviews in the French press by pointing out that “the French don’t even like themselves.”

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[ Extreme Maximus Decimus Meridius voice ] Are you not entertained? The image of Sir Ridley as Hollywood’s most indefatigable and cantankerous elder craftsman suits him, and in both its overbearing scope and goofy humor, Napoleon is clearly the work of a man who couldn’t give an f-word of your choice—a fig or a fuck, flying or otherwise—about his critics. Although the fact that Scott showed up for his recent New Yorker profile brandishing a 30-year-old copy of the issue containing Pauline Kael’s infamous pan of Blade Runner suggests that the chip on his shoulder didn’t get there on its own. Blade Runner has endured beyond its middling reception, of course, and yet Kael’s kicker—suggesting that Scott’s chill, methodical style aligned him with the synthetic humans at his story’s center—is one of those observations that splits the difference between genuine insight and mean-spirited mockery.

It’s also long since been debunked: Nobody could watch Thelma & Louise or The Last Duel and think their maker heartless—the latter is probably Scott’s most powerful and probing work in years, although what it really proves is what skeptics have said all along, that he’s only as good or as bad as his scripts. The question of emotion is worth asking when it comes to Napoleon , which is really three films in one: a strapping old-school action blockbuster, a tragic story of star-crossed lovers, and a determined deconstruction of great-man-of-history narratives. On the one hand, most directors couldn’t manage even one of these modes if they tried. On the other, Scott’s determination to live up to his own virile legend sometimes leads him to overextend himself. He wants to have Napoleon ’s triple-layer cake and eat it too, and he can’t.

Speaking of cake: Napoleon begins with the decapitation of Marie Antoinette, whose stoic fearlessness en route to the guillotine is one of the many, many details in David Scarpa’s screenplay that the egghead brigade has taken issue with . The point of the scene isn’t really the queen’s intestinal fortitude, however; rather, it’s in the way that Joaquin Phoenix’s incarnation of the erstwhile Monsieur Bonaparte is framed as a mere witness to history—a face in the crowd whose deadpan expression in the midst of seismic social upheaval may or may not contain multitudes. To the extent that Napoleon is a character study, it’s primarily fascinated with the gap between its subject’s tactical brilliance on the battlefield and his almost total lack of charisma off it. Hunched, awkward, and easily distracted, the Corsican general is hopeless at navigating the corridors of power; he’s not much of an orator, and his response to talk of politics is to nod off sitting up. But stick him on a horse and give him some pliable countrymen, and he’s a dynamo, the sort of mercurial asset that France’s power brokers were happy to cultivate until he finally transcended them, parlaying his military victories into a political coup that embedded him as emperor and set him off on a trail of bloody, ultimately self-destructive success.

The revenge of the nerd is a fairy tale with modern resonance, and it’s theoretically perfect for Phoenix, with his talent for playing antisocial misfits . And while the idea of a Jokerfied Napoleon has potential, there’s a fine line between intensity and shtick, and in the absence of careful direction, Phoenix leans a bit too heavily on the latter. “You think you’re so great because you have boats !” this Napoleon rages at a British diplomatic rival, sounding less like the supreme commander than John C. Reilly in Step Brothers. Such outbursts are undeniably funny—another dinner table rant literalizes the hamminess of the film’s dramaturgy by referring, straight-facedly, to a “pork chop of destiny”—but they never feel fully integrated into the action. There’s a reading to be made that these and other jokes at the protagonist’s expense—flashes of cowardice; hints of sexual impotence—are a way of cutting Napoleon down to size, humiliating him more than Alexander the Great or ABBA ever could. But satire has to be decisive, and Scott simply can’t commit to the bit. The reason a movie like Barry Lyndon works is because it picks a wickedly picaresque wavelength and rides it for three hours without wavering; more often than not, Scott’s just brazenly throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

Where Phoenix chugs around industriously in search of a clearly defined character, Vanessa Kirby skillfully underplays her role as Josephine, whom the movie tries to regard simultaneously as a smooth, self-conscious seductress and Napoleon’s deep-down soulmate. It’s a contradiction that the actress inhabits as best she can, scoring laughs in the early scenes off of Josephine’s skepticism that the diminutive man trying to win her hand is worth her time, as well as with the speed and ease with which she renders him a cuckold. (The sex scenes in the movie are all played for sleazy comedy; it’s as if the production hired an anti-intimacy coordinator to help choreograph the action.) As the film goes on, though, Josephine is increasingly meant to be a tragic figure, first thrown over and then exiled in favor of a younger and more fertile model. The melancholy around her situation never quite coalesces, and her scenes are so ridiculously grim that you expect Mel Brooks and the History of the World: Part I gang to burst in and start riffing. There’s no regret, no tenderness, no residue of passion grand or otherwise—just the grinding of gears as the film cuts back and forth between Napoleon on the field and Josephine on her deathbed. Ideally, it’d be hard to tell how Napoleon and Josephine truly feel about each other because they’re both addicted to power gaming. These sections of Napoleon underwhelm, though, because they’re underdeveloped—carefully staged and yet fuzzy around the edges.

The places where Scott achieves clarity—occasionally to startling effect—are in the battle sequences, which unlock his undeniable gift for scale: He’s one of those directors who just naturally sees in wide screen and who understands how to use landscape as a character in and of itself (think of the surreally lunar back-roads backdrops of Thelma & Louise , or the prologue of Prometheus , which made even the Garden of Eden look alien and sinister). They also unlock his sadism. This may be the first period war film to ever show a horse being perforated by a cannonball fired at close range, and there’s also a bit involving a percussionist being blown up that skirts Monty Python territory. At least two of these set pieces feel like instant contenders for the Ridley Hall of Fame: the tense nighttime Siege of Toulon, in which Napoleon manages to hijack British artillery and turn it against its owners, and the extended, terrifying depiction of the Battle of Austerlitz, with hordes of infantrymen sinking beneath the surface of a frozen lake under the weight of their own armor. Here, the terrible, tactile materiality of bodies and weapons mixes with nightmarishly morbid metaphysics. The ingeniousness of Napoleon’s strategy exists in a gaping moral vacuum, and a tingle of Kubrickian critique creeps into the proceedings: Is this cruelty what it takes to shape the world in one’s image? Who would want to do such a thing? And who would want to watch—or make—a movie about it?

It’s possible that Scott is trying to create a space for humane contemplation, and that the real point of this movie called Napoleon is to think about all of the lives—most of them French, in truth—sacrificed on the altar of his ambition and ego. The biopic equivalent of a Trojan horse. When he hasn’t been complaining about his movie’s reception, he’s been whispering about the existence of a four-and-a-half-hour cut that might theoretically thread the needle on this count, just like the extended version of Kingdom of Heaven improved on its theatrical incarnation. But even if Napoleon Uncut surfaces and turns out to be better than its predecessor, it’s hard to imagine it’ll fix the fundamental problem, which has less to do with structure or craft than sensibility. It’s not that Scott lacks a sense of irony about his work but that he’s a hostage to his maniacal, virtuoso professionalism. The same irrepressible drive that allowed him to prepare and release four movies in the time it took Martin Scorsese to complete Killers of the Flower Moon is what keeps him from arriving at something comparably profound and self-reflexive, or confrontational. When Scorsese wants us to think about the politics of representation or the casualties of American exceptionalism, he finds a way to distill that complicity and confusion into a series of formal and rhetorical challenges. Faced with a similar challenge, Scott simply splashes some statistics on-screen. He gets the job done and moves on to the next one.

Adam Nayman is a film critic, teacher, and author based in Toronto; his book The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together is available now from Abrams.

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