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

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

General YouTube Feature 1
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.

Tag: YouTube

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Top Rated Comments

Johnny907 Avatar
Johnny907
32 months ago
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.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
George Dawes Avatar
George Dawes
32 months ago
I use it more than anything else on the various ATV’s dotted around the house

No adverts transforms the experience massively
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnnytravels Avatar
johnnytravels
32 months ago

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?
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dantracht Avatar
dantracht
32 months ago
I watch so much YouTube it’s worth it to me.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hagar Avatar
hagar
32 months ago
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.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MJaP Avatar
MJaP
32 months ago
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?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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