YouTube Premium Quietly Hikes Subscription Prices in the US [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Google has quietly increased its YouTube Premium subscription prices for newcomers in the United States (via 9to5Google).

Individual YouTube Premium subscriptions now cost $13.99 per month, up $2 from the previous $11.99 price. Signing up to a monthly subscription from within the iOS YouTube app has also increased to $18.99, up from $15.99.

Annual plans have gone up from $119.99 to $139.99, introducing a $20 hike, while the student plan has also gone up from $6.99 per month to $7.99 per month. The only plan that is unchanged is the family plan, which is still $22.99 per month.

YouTube is also raising the price of Music Premium from $9.99 to $10.99 per month.

Google hasn't officially announced the price hikes yet, but the increases are already evident on YouTube's Premium plan sign-up webpage. For non-subscribers, YouTube Premium's 1-month free trial offer is still in place.

Presumably existing subscribers will be informed soon that they will begin paying the new prices at some point, perhaps when their monthly or annual memberships are up for renewal, but we'll have to wait for an official announcement to know for sure.

In the United Kingdom and elsewhere, YouTube Premium subscription prices appear to be unchanged - at least for now.

YouTube Premium provides ad-free video playback, the ability to play videos while using other apps or while a device's screen is locked, an option to download videos for offline playback, and more.

Update: YouTube has informed existing subscribers on a month-to-month plan that they will receive at least three months of service at their current price before the price increase goes into effect. Customers are receiving emails about the upcoming price increase, and will be informed again 30 days before the price increase happens.

Article Link: YouTube Premium Quietly Hikes Subscription Prices in the US [Updated]

 

[Johnny907]

Thanks for reminding me to unsubscribe from within iOS and subscribe directly from my Google account. Sorry but not giving Apple 5 extra bucks it did nothing to earn.

 

[iAppleOrchard]

Lol honestly was considering it, but not anymore!

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Lol honestly was considering it, but not anymore!

We could go in together as a family plan

 

[hagar]

Definitely not cheap and nearly everything listed is possible for free with browser plugins. I cannot imagine there’s a huge market for this type of service.

 

[Kalixt]

Definitely not cheap and nearly everything listed is possible for free with browser plugins. I cannot imagine there’s a huge market for this type of service.

Tell me about it on AppleTV or iPhone.

 

[George Dawes]

I use it more than anything else on the various ATV’s dotted around the house

No adverts transforms the experience massively

 

[klasma]

Definitely not cheap and nearly everything listed is possible for free with browser plugins. I cannot imagine there’s a huge market for this type of service.

You don’t have those browser plugins on iOS and TVs, where a large portion of usage happens. Also, YouTube Music is pretty good, which you’d use via its dedicated app. (That doesn’t mean I like the price hike.)

 

[MJaP]

In some ways (not all ways, corporate greed also plays a part) this is just a byproduct of our own self-entitlement, a monster of our own creation. We expect to get so much for free nowadays as far as online content is concerned and yet we forget that all the backend services have to be paid for... so they put in ads to pay for them... and we block them with ad blockers... so they have to put in more unskippable, mid-roll ads... and we block them... so they have to charge a subscriptions, and we hack it or share passwords.... so they have to put the prices up...etc etc etc...

The developers, the machine room leasing, the server costs, the maintenance costs, the upgrade costs, the electricity costs, all the people performing these tasks... this all has to get paid... and every year everyone wants a pay rise.

Yet we still think we should be given this stuff for free and resent having to watch a few adverts in order to pay for it?

 

[AlbinoAlexC]

I’ve had YouTube Premium since it was called YouTube Red, $9.99 / month, not looking forward to a price increase.

Friendly reminder that YouTube Premium is $7 / month or $71 / year in Mexico. Supposedly it’s cheaper in India and Argentina but the VPN trick never worked for me (payment always failed, postal code didn’t work). But my sister signed up in Mexico in February and has Premium for $7 / month. If she doesn’t get shut down I’ll follow her lead later this year. $14 is ridiculous considering many videos still have sponsored segments.

 

[contacos]

If I could simply subscribe to a "no-ads" plan I would. As long as they do not offer this option, I will continue to live in "Turkey" on an annual plan for 15 EUR a year. I personally do not care about YouTube music, never even downloaded the app. I just want no ads!

 

[allenvanhellen]

We used to pay a bit extra ONE time for a TV that could do PiP. Now Google begs for subscriptions just to enable it on hardware that could already do. There’s nothing lamer than extorting money from customers instead of innovating to produce and offer something of value.

 

[hagar]

Tell me about it on AppleTV or iPhone.

That’s true.

I use my AppleTV for movies and TV shows. Never felt the need to watch mindless YT videos on the big screen. Partially because the app interface is so annoying, but even so I wouldn’t pay those ridiculous prices to remove ads.

 

[dantracht]

I watch so much YouTube it’s worth it to me.

 

[tripsync]

Thanks for reminding me to unsubscribe from within iOS and subscribe directly from my Google account. Sorry but not giving Apple 5 extra bucks it did nothing to earn.

Cool and you were able to do that without the need for Youtube to explicitly state that within the app.

 

[steve09090]

Thanks for reminding me to unsubscribe from within iOS and subscribe directly from my Google account. Sorry but not giving Apple 5 extra bucks it did nothing to earn.

I only signed up this week in Oz. So I’m still on my free month, but when I was trying to sign up on the iPad, it kept defaulting to the YouTube App and instantly raised the price $5. Finally got around it, but what a pain. Also, there is no yearly paid choice at the moment, so when it goes up, I can’t get the benefit for the yearly price.

 

[adammusic]

When is the breaking point? What does that look like?

 

[FishyFish]

I find YouTube Premium to be a great value.

I’m not a billionaire but am upper-middle class (~$700M personal assets) and I find it totally worth the price.

So much entertainment and education there to access and the experience is just much better without ads.

Highly recommend even at the new price.

 

[Rockhouse]

Check out Video Lite on App Store. It's a great alternative and I use it all the time.

 

[Sorinut]

I barely use YouTube (probably >1 hour/month), but in my experience an adblocker and a browser does the same thing.

 

[foobarbaz]

If they'd unbundle it from the music streaming, it would be much more attractive. It's essentially $10 for YT Music and $4 for Premium.

I think even $6 or $8 for YT Premium alone would be a fair deal.

 

[johnnytravels]

I’m not a billionaire but am upper-middle class (~$700M personal assets) and I find it totally worth the price.

Can I just ask. Is 700M a typo or are you actually considering that to be upper middle class?

 

[Will Co]

In some ways (not all ways, corporate greed also plays a part) this is just a byproduct of our own self-entitlement, a monster of our own creation. We expect to get so much for free nowadays as far as online content is concerned and yet we forget that all the backend services have to be paid for... so they put in ads to pay for them... and we block them with ad blockers... so they have to put in more unskippable, mid-roll ads... and we block them... so they have to charge a subscriptions, and we hack it or share passwords.... so they have to put the prices up...etc etc etc...

The developers, the machine room leasing, the server costs, the maintenance costs, the upgrade costs, the electricity costs, all the people performing these tasks... this all has to get paid... and every year everyone wants a pay rise.

Yet we still think we should be given this stuff for free and resent having to watch a few adverts in order to pay for it?

All very true - and I think people often do forget this. But we should also not allow this to minimise corporate greed. Sometimes it's difficult to tell what the real driver for a price rise is, but I'm skeptical that it's any of the above well made points, and it is, in fact, mostly corporate green. With a consumer base as large as they have, putting up the price by that amount gives rise to many millions more in revenue. Way more, than the likely increase in costs that they are no doubt experiencing. They're a business - they're in business to make profit, serve shareholders etc etc. But they're also probably being greedy, IMHO.

 

[Born2Run]

I'm glad I got my subscription using a VPN and an Indian address... £2 per month!

 

[beanbaguk]

Can I just ask. Is 700M a typo or are you actually considering that to be upper middle class?

It's probably a bit of fantasy. Either way, it's completely irrelevant.