Google’s video streaming platform, YouTube, has hiked prices on its monthly and annual premium plans in the United States for the first time since the subscription service was launched in 2018. The YouTube Premium plan will now cost $13.99 per month, up $2 from before. The price for the annual plan has increased by $20 to $139.99.
Members who subscribed to YouTube Premium five years ago, including those who signed up originally through Google Play, will get three more months of subscription at the old price.
The price increase for YouTube Premium follows a similar move by competitors like Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal. YouTube Music also saw a price increase, with a $1 increase to $10.99 per month in the U.S.
YouTube Premium offers users an ad-free experience on both YouTube and YouTube Music, along with background playback for the latter. Moreover, Google has recently enhanced bitrates for 1080p videos to entice subscribers further.
Google has made no official announcement. Instead, it was noticed by 9to5Google, who reached out to a YouTube spokesperson for clarification. The statement provided emphasized that the new pricing aims to reflect the value of YouTube Premium, offering subscribers ad-free, background and offline play, and uninterrupted access to over 100 million songs through the YouTube Music app.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.