YouTube Red goes live in the U.S.

YouTube Red is rolling out now. Photo: YouTube

YouTube Red is rolling out now. Photo: YouTube

YouTube Red, the new subscription service that lets you enjoy the latest content from your favorite YouTube channels without ads, is now live in the United States.

Priced at $9.99 — and bundled with Google Play Music — Red also lets you play YouTube content in the background on your mobile devices, and download videos for offline viewing.

YouTube announced Red last Wednesday, and it bills the service as “the experience fans have been asking for.” If you can afford it, it definitely improves the YouTube experience — and in more ways than one.

Not only does a Red subscription mean you never have to see another ad across the whole of YouTube, but it also lets you save videos on your smartphone or tablet so that you can view them offline when you’re away from Wi-Fi hotspots and without a data connection.

Red also lets you play YouTube videos in the background on those devices, so you don’t have to keep the app open or even keep your device awake to listen to music or podcasts.

https://youtu.be/YL9RetC0ook

Red is available to those based in the U.S. today, and it comes with a one-month trial, so you can try it out before paying a penny. YouTube plans to bring the service to more countries — and make Red available across YouTube Kids, YouTube Music, and YouTube Gaming — later on.

If you’re already a Google Play Music subscriber, then you’ll get Red as part of your existing subscription. What’s more, if you signed up to Play Music when it was $7.99 a month, you’ll continue to pay that price — even with Red added to your plan.