YouTube Premium just got more expensive again: now $16 a month, or $27 for families

[DragonSlayer101]

Winners & losers: YouTube has raised the prices of its Premium subscription plans in numerous international markets across North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. This is the company's first price hike in the United States since 2023 and will cost subscribers up to an additional $4 per month.

Following the price hike, the basic YouTube Premium individual plan has increased by $2 per month, from $13.99 to $15.99. The Premium family plan, which allows up to five family members to stream simultaneously, now costs $26.99 per month, up from $22.99. The subscription cost for the annual individual Premium plan has also increased from $139.99 to $159.99.

The Premium Lite tier, launched last year as an affordable alternative to the full-price Premium plan, is also seeing a $1 increase, from $7.99 to $8.99. It offers an ad-free viewing experience for most videos but does not include YouTube Music. It also lacks several useful features, including background playback, offline downloads, and ad-free music and music videos.

Originally announced in April, the latest price hike is already active for all new subscribers, while existing users are beginning to see the changes roll out in their current billing cycles. It is the first price increase for YouTube Premium since 2024, when the company raised subscription prices across Europe, Asia, and South America but kept US prices unchanged.

US prices were last revised in 2023, when the individual YouTube Premium plan rose from $11.99 to $13.99 and the family plan increased from $17.99 to $22.99. The increase came less than a year after YouTube raised prices by $5, pushing the monthly rate to $22.99. That same year, the company also increased the base YouTube TV plan by $8 to $73 per month. It has since risen to $82.99.

As expected, many Premium subscribers have expressed outrage and disappointment at the latest price hike, but YouTube has defended the move, saying the update will allow it to "continue improving Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube."

YouTube Premium now includes a new time-saving feature called "Auto Speed," which automatically speeds up videos without compromising audio clarity. YouTube is also testing another Premium feature called "On-the-go," which aims to reduce distractions such as comments and other on-screen elements in audio-focused content like podcasts and talk shows.

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YouTube Premium just got more expensive again: now $16 a month, or $27 for families

 

[poshflamingos]

A great time to remind everyone that uBlock Origin and AdGuard (both their extension and their DNS provider service) are excellent tools.

 

[kingmustard]

A great time to remind everyone that uBlock Origin and AdGuard (the extension and the DNS provider service) are excellent tools.

That is fine for PCs.

 

[noel24]

Well, It's a subscription. That's how It supposed to work. You'll own nothing and You'll be happy.

 

[about30ninjas]

That is fine for PCs.

Use Brave on mobile, enable play in the background option in settings. Works very well on both Android and iOS.

 

[poshflamingos]

That is fine for PCs.

Also for phones, where you can use Firefox extensions plus the AdGuard DNS.
Only TVs require a more involved solution, like plugging a laptop into it instead of using the built-in app.

 

[about30ninjas]

Between all the AI slop content and the continual price increases for Premium, I decided to ditch my over priced subscription, and just use Brave on desktop and mobile. $27 for Youtube Premium Family was just too much. They need to stabilize pricing or heck decrease pricing. When you got 60 percent of America living paycheck to paycheck, millionaire execs are out of touch with main street yet again, shocker.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Set your VPN to a poor country without monetized Youtube and watch how nobody wants to serve you ads

 

[Megalomaniac]

I will never pay Youtube money.

 

[havok585]

That is fine for PCs.

and android.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I switched to Premium Lite because of this increase and I never used the music feature so nothing lost.

…except now it constantly nags me to upgrade to premium.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Use Brave on mobile, enable play in the background option in settings. Works very well on both Android and iOS.

Thanks! I did not know this trick and I already use Brave mobile.

 

[p51d007]

With all of these "subscriptions" going up and up and up, maybe it's time to RECONNECT the cord?

 

[daffy duck]

The idea someone would pay Google for the privilege of having them steal your data, and on-sell it is as batsh!t crazy as it gets.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The idea someone would pay Google for the privilege of having them steal your data, and on-sell it is as batsh!t crazy as it gets.

You're paying to remove ads. IDK where you got the rest of your idea of premium from.

 

[Watzupken]

The parent company needs money to fuel its AI investment. So everything else will go up in price just so that they can sustain what is essentially an unsustainable investment.

 

[J95qRP7]

YouTube Lite does include background playback. Did you get that from an LLM with outdated information, didn't bother to check it and just pasted it into the news article?

Get a Premium Lite membership on YouTube - YouTube Help

Premium Lite is a new, lower-priced YouTube Premium membership that offers fewer interruptions so you can watch most YouTube and YouTube Kids videos ad-free, offline, and in the background. Premium L

support.google.com

 

[mbk34]

I just mute the adds. When an alternative provider comes along then I'll switch immediately.

 

[JimF1]

Shows how greedy these corporations really are.

 

[dangh]

I'm having adguard on my devices and network, but to actually get rid of ads I do pay family premium, yt ads are integrated to the steam and adguard didn't block them anymore. No ads for my kids at all, and we do not have any tv. Styl, this hike is crazy and we do need a competition here very badly.

 

[Zintin]

::Laughs in Ublock Origin and Sponserblock::

 

[Endymio]

Well, It's a subscription. That's how It supposed to work. You'll own nothing and You'll be happy.

Despite the tenor of your post, no one's forcing you to use streaming services. Personally, I subscribe to a half-dozen -- but for content I don't wish to lose, I still purchase disks.

Shows how greedy these corporations really are.

When you define 'greedy' as "charging more than I wish to pay", you'll classify the entire world as greedy.

BTW, please inform me when you next place your home for sale. I'll inform you the price I want it for, and, as you're certainly not greedy, I'm sure you'll agree to it.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Outside of the sponsored ads in some videos I watch from time to time, I never have had one add to watch on youtube. The wonders of firefox and ublock.

 

[Win7user]

You're paying for YouTube? You know that Google, the woke, corrupt, data mining company owns YouTube, don't you?

 

[The Talking Tech]

Between all the AI slop content and the continual price increases for Premium, I decided to ditch my over priced subscription, and just use Brave on desktop and mobile. $27 for Youtube Premium Family was just too much. They need to stabilize pricing or heck decrease pricing. When you got 60 percent of America living paycheck to paycheck, millionaire execs are out of touch with main street yet again, shocker.

I agree with you....I also cancelled the subscription.