YouTube Premium, the subscription service that offers ad-free streaming, offline downloads, and access to YouTube Music, has announced a significant price increase for its membership plans in India. The price increase was first brought to attention by an X (formerly Twitter) user known as @MrSahilBawa, who shared a notification from YouTube detailing the new pricing scheme.
“To continue delivering great service and features, we’re increasing your price to? 299.00/month. We don’t make these decisions lightly, and this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube,” it said.
The Family plan, which enables up to five members to share a single subscription, has seen a major increase of 58%. The monthly cost for this plan has surged from Rs 189 to Rs 299. With a YouTube Premium Family plan, users will be able to share their membership with up to 5 additional people who live in their household. As the plan manager, they can add family members to the plan. Each member must have a Google account and will get their own private and personalized account.
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What Are The New YouTube Premium Subscription Prices
Apart from the Family plan increase, the Student monthly plan has also been increased. The cost of this plan has jumped from Rs 79 and Rs 89, showcasing a 12.6% increase. Meanwhile, the Individual monthly plan has risen from Rs 129 to Rs 149, marking a 15% increase.
For users who opt for prepaid options, the price adjustments are: the Individual prepaid monthly plan has increased from Rs 139 to Rs 159, the prepaid quarterly plan is up from Rs 399 to Rs 459, and the prepaid annual plan has gone from Rs 1,290 to Rs 1,490.
These new prices are applicable to both new subscribers and existing YouTube Premium users. The service, which features a global user base of over 100 million subscribers, continues to offer its members various benefits, including ad-free streaming, offline downloads, background playback, and ad-free access to YouTube Music.
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YouTube Premium Users Could Soon Get Built-In Sleep Timer
YouTube seems to be testing out a new sleep timer for its mobile app and on the desktop that stops playback after a set period of time. If a user has fallen into a YouTube rabbit hole late at night, they have likely also experienced waking up a few hours later to find that videos have continued to play.
Such instances can totally disrupt recommendations and watch history, but also can just become a bother to others around the users in the late hours of the night. As such, many users would probably immediately understand the value of a sleep time built-in on YouTube.