Get ready to pay a little more for a couple of Google’s streaming options. As spotted by 9to5 Google, YouTube Premium — the add-on that (among other things) gets rid of advertising on YouTube — is now $2 more expensive each month, landing at $14. The annual subscription rate also is going up to $140, an increase of $20.
Meanwhile, the standalone subscription to YouTube Music (which you get for free if you sign up for YouTube Premium) is increasing by a dollar to $11 a month. That brings it in line with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. Spotify now undercuts them all by that single dollar.
If there’s any good news here, it’s that the cost of a family subscription to YouTube Premium isn’t going up again. On the other hand, it did increase by $5 in October 2022 and stands at $23 a month. At the time, that price increase was attributed to “allow us to develop even more Premium features and continue to support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube.”
There’s also the fact that you can still get a full one-month free trial to YouTube Premium. That’ll let you kick the tires of the aforementioned ad-free experience, as well as play videos in the background, and save them for offline viewing. And those using YouTube on iOS still get a little added sweetener of 1080p videos at a higher bitrate than before, so there’s that.
Really, though, YouTube Premium is all about getting rid of advertising. That — and the inclusion of YouTube Music — is why most folks will be taking a look at it. But it’s also the latest in a long, continuous line of streaming price increases. So now’s as good a time as any to audit what you’re spending and see if it’s time to cut back.
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