I could be wrong but I remember that there are two kinds of Premium memberships.
If I were to let mine lapse, then restart it, I would be subject to being exposed to more ads than if I just kept paying[auto-renew] for the old kind of premium membership. Grandfathered, if you will, as long as you keep paying.
if it's any consolation my status is continuous, but every time I pull an Ihub quote I get an annoying page redirect to a full page ad for some service I have absolutely no interest in.