The YouTube Music app appears on the smartphone screen.
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YouTube is the latest streaming company to raise subscription prices for its shows
On Thursday, the company raised the prices of its YouTube Premium service (which lets users watch ad-free videos and download them for offline playback) and YouTube Premium Music, the company’s music streaming offering.
“We’re updating pricing to continue to provide great service and features for US YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers,” YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Gibby said. The Hollywood Reporter. “We believe this new price reflects the value of YouTube Premium, which gives customers ad-free YouTube with offline and background playback and seamless access to more than 100 million songs through the YouTube Music app.”
YouTube Premium will increase in price by $2 per month to $13.99 for most users, while YouTube Music will increase in price by $1 per month to $10.99. The exact price may depend on the user’s plan and billing options. This is the first price increase for YouTube Premium since it launched in 2018, and according to YouTube, users who signed up five years ago will get an extra three months at the current price.
The changes follow a wave of price increases across the video and music streaming landscape.
In the music business, both Apple and Amazon have raised the price of their music services to $10.99 per month (Spotify is still at $9.99, but prices are expected to rise in the near future). And in video, most companies have adjusted their prices over the past year, with NBCUniversal’s Peacock raising its prices earlier this week. Paramount also adjusted the prices of its Paramount+ products with Showtime, and Warner Bros. raised prices earlier this year. Discovery set “Max” pricing for HBO before the “Max” designation.
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