It seems that even tech giants like Google are feeling the effects of the uncertain economy, as YouTube Premium just announced its first significant price increase in several years.
In the United States and Canada, the monthly price of the YouTube Premium family plan (which allows for up to six accounts to use the same subscription) will increase from $17.99 to $22.99 in November, and from £17.99 to £19.99. As for the former, it's a 30% price increase. We have contacted Google to inquire as to whether or not Australian customers, who pay AU$22.99 per month for their Premium family plan, can expect to see similar price increases.
New and existing users of YouTube Premium family will see a rise in their monthly fee beginning on November 21. However, "long-standing and valued members" who joined the service before its rebranding from YouTube Red will be able to maintain their current subscription plans until April 2023. From then on, however, the monthly rates for all customers will be the same.
In an email to current subscribers, YouTube explained that the price increase was necessary so that the company could "continue delivering great service and features." There hasn't been a price increase for YouTube Premium since 2018.
Single-user YouTube Premium plans are currently unaffected by the increase; however, it seems only a matter of time before a similar shake-up comes to all tiers of the service.
According to reports, Google is also preparing for the inevitable backlash that will result. For those who would like to provide feedback on the aforementioned price increase to YouTube Premium's family plan, the company has set up a dedicated support page. Why? Probably to find out how irate customers would get if the same trick was applied to all pricing tiers.
Following Google's widely reported experiments with what constitutes YouTube Premium, the company has decided to increase the price of its family plan. Paid users get rid of ads, can play videos in the background, and save them for offline viewing, but Google has been mulling over implementing a resolution paywall for free YouTube users, which would restrict 4K video playback to Premium users only.
In October, Google announced that its resolution paywall trial had concluded, which is good news (at least for users who weren't willing to pay). If YouTube decides to raise the price of YouTube Premium for everyone, those who pay the higher rate will be hoping for more features and content than they currently have access to.
