YouTube Premium price increases

YouTube Premium is going up in price.

I'm not talking about YouTube TV. That went up from too much to way too much a few months ago. I'm referring to YouTube Premium, the paid tier of YouTube. It includes ad-free YouTube, which is nice, YouTube Music, which is okay, and the ability to download and watch YouTube videos offline (which I don't care about).

The email was sent out this week:

Thank you for being a YouTube Premium member. We hope you are enjoying your YouTube Premium benefits, including ad-free and downloadable videos, background play, and uninterrupted access to over 100 million songs with the YouTube Music app.

To continue delivering great service and features, we’re increasing your price to $13.99/month. We don’t make these decisions lightly, but this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube.

You will see the change reflected in your next billing date on September 1, 2023.

While we hope that you continue to be a member, you can cancel your subscription at any time here. To check the status of your account and billing information, go to your Settings > Purchases and Memberships page.

You can find more information on the latest updates in the YouTube Help Center.

Thanks for being a YouTube Premium member.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Premium team

I subscribed to test it out, and actually liked it. The lack of ads in YouTube videos is great. YouTube music is okay. It pales compared to Apple Music, but it is okay. It would be great if they had something that resembled radio stations (as found on other services), but they don't, so it's not great, just okay. For $12/month, it seemed worth it. The $2/month increase? I'm not so sure. There comes a point where it's not worth it.

A monthly cost of $10 would have been my thought since YouTube Music was my actual goal to test, but I put up with $12 (20% more) to get rid of ads. But $14 (40% more)? I'm not so sure.

My Streaming Life has enjoyed the lack of YouTube ads while I tested YouTube Premium for YouTube Music. If YouTube Music was better, then I'd keep YouTube Premium. Now? I'm not so sure.