- YouTube Premium has silently raised its tier prices
- Google started emailing users about the change before announcing it
- For a lot of subscribers, this could be the last straw
YouTube Premium is the latest subscription service to hike its prices in the US, but the timing couldn’t be more awkward — especially since it follows the controversy of its 90-second unskippable ads for free users.
As spotted by eagle-eyed users on Reddit, YouTube has already increased its monthly fees across all of its plans, including its budget Premium Lite tier which was launched only last year. With the new changes in place, subscription prices have gone up by as much as $4.
The standard YouTube Premium individual plan has now increased to $15.99 a month from $13.99, while the new Family plan fee is now $26.99 a month instead of $22.99. YouTube Premium Lite will now cost $8.99, increasing by $1, and Music Premium is $11.99/month, up from $10.99.
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Unlike Netflix where customers are no stranger to a frequent price increase, fee hikes don’t come as often to YouTube Premium members. The last time Google raised its subscription prices was back in 2023 when individual plans went from $11.99 to $13.99, with the Family plan increasing to $22.99 the year before. It’s safe to say that existing members are quite frustrated with this move, but it’s the vagueness on Google’s behalf that seems to be bothering them the most.
For starters, it took Google a while to speak on the change (the company gave a statement to Variety), leaving subscribers to find out for themselves via email. However, not everyone was informed, and those who’ve received emails are still scratching their heads — why is Google hiking these prices?
One user shared a screenshot of their email which detailed the following: “To continue delivering great service and features, we’re increasing your price to $20.99 a month. We don’t make these decisions lightly, but this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube”.
The thing is, users aren’t falling for it.
The biggest difference between YouTube Premium and a platform such as Netflix is that the latter has a continuous output of original content, therefore it has somewhere valuable to invest money generated from subscription fees. Another user pointed this out, claiming that YouTube doesn’t have original content on Netflix’s scale to invest in, as all of its hosted content is made by creators with YouTube channels, leading users to question where their money is really going.
With this in mind, YouTube has also come under fire recently for its 90-second unskippable ads on its TV app. But despite the company’s comment against claims that it is conducting secret tests, the price hikes give us a good enough reason to believe that Google is trying to lure even more free users over to the dark side — but will it cost them the loyalty of long-time subscribers in the process?
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
