YouTube Premium just got its first big price hike in several years, suggesting that even Google is feeling the effects of an unpredictable economic climate.
Starting in November, the monthly cost of the YouTube Premium Family Plan, which allows six accounts to use the same subscription, will drop from €17,99 to €22,99 in the US and Canada, and from €17,99 € to €19,99 in the UK. The first increment represents a 30% price increase. We've reached out to Google to confirm any equivalent increases for users in Australia, whose Premium Family plan currently costs AU$22.99 per month.
The monthly cost increase will apply to new and existing family users of YouTube Premium starting November 21, though "long-standing and valued members" who started subscribing to the service before YouTube Red was rebranded will remain. on the same subscription plans until April. 2023. After that, however, all users will be subject to the same monthly charges.
YouTube is increasing the price of its Premium Family Membership "to continue to provide great services and features," according to a notification email sent to existing subscribers. The increase represents the first price change at any YouTube Premium tier since 2018.
Currently, single-user YouTube Premium plans aren't affected by the increase, but it seems like it's only a matter of time before a similar service-wide reorganization happens.
It looks like Google is preparing for a backlash when that happens too. The company has created a support page (opens in a new tab) for users to provide feedback on the price increase for the YouTube Premium family plan mentioned above. Why? Probably to measure how angry their customers would be if they did the same trick at all subscription levels.
A season of change
The price increase for the family plan comes after Google's very public experiments on what actually constitutes YouTube Premium. The service offers paid subscribers ad-free viewing, background playback, and the ability to download videos for offline use, but in recent months Google has flirted with the introduction of a resolution paywall for free YouTube users, a system that would see 4K video playback exclusive to Premium. subscribers.
Fortunately (at least for non-paying users), Google confirmed in October that it had finished its paywall resolution test. However, if the company decides to increase the price of YouTube Premium across the board, affected subscribers expect to get more for their money than with the current Premium plan.
For more YouTube-related content, check out our reports on how YouTube is taking mentions into account to the next level and why we're so glad YouTube widgets are finally here for iOS 16 and iPadOS.