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  • Google wants to make YouTube Premium more affordable for couples

    Google is testing out a YouTube Premium tier designed for two people, especially for couples living in India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

    The company confirmed its plans to test the new YouTube Premium tier on Monday, according to finance outlet MoneyControl. The tier will allow two people in the same Google family group to access everything YouTube Premium has to offer, including zero ads, at a more affordable price than they would if each person had a separate YouTube Premium account or are part of a family plan for five people.

    In India, the monthly cost two-person YouTube Premium tier Rs 219, while the family version costs Rs 299. That’s equivalent to $2.60 USD and $3.55 USD, respectively, which is not exactly the best comparison to make. Although the actual cost of family tier of YouTube Premium is $22.99 a month, the two-person tier would be in the neighborhood of $16 a month if it gets offered in the U.S.

    YouTube said they’re testing the two-person YouTube Premium tier in an effort to expand subscription offerings for its users at a great value, which comes a month after millions of YouTube Premium users experienced a price hike on their subscriptions after paying low costs for a decade. Individual plans jumped from $11.99 a month to $13.99 a month, while annual plans increased from $119.99 to $139.99, and student plans ticked up to $7.99 a month from $6.99. The student plan costs that same as YouTube Premium Lite, which launched in March.

    The two-person YouTube Premium tier not only benefits couples, but college roommates, friends, and even single parents of teens can take advantage of that plan, helping each other save money when one of them can’t otherwise afford a Premium plan of their own. It’s unknown when that tier will be rolled out to the U.S., as testing has only just begun in the aforementioned regions.

  • Major price hike for some YouTube Premium subscribers after decade of low rates

    If you’ve been paying $7.99 monthly for what is now YouTube Premium and have never experienced a price increase, we have some unfortunate news. According to Android Authority, like millions of other users over the years, your YouTube Premium price will jump to the current rate of $13.99.

    YouTube introduced “Music Key” in 2014, a predecessor to YouTube Music. This invite-only beta service cost $7.99 monthly and focused exclusively on music content, offering ad-free music videos, background playback, and offline downloads.

    A year later, Music Key was rebranded as “YouTube Red” and expanded beyond music to remove ads from all videos. The service was priced at $9.99 per month, but those who transitioned from Music Key did not see a price increase.

    The way it was: YouTube Music Key
    The way it was: YouTube Music Key Image used with permission by copyright holder

    In 2018, YouTube rebranded the service again as “YouTube Premium” and simultaneously relaunched YouTube Music as a standalone streaming service. The price for new subscribers increased from $9.99 to $11.99 per month, while existing subscribers were allowed to keep their original rates.

    Since launching Premium, YouTube implemented its first significant price increase for U.S. subscribers two years ago. Individual plans increased by $2 to $13.99 per month, annual plans rose from $119.99 to $139.99, and student plans went from $6.99 to $7.99 monthly. YouTube Music Premium also saw a $1 increase to $10.99 monthly.

    Later that year, subscribers paying $9.99 per month since the YouTube Red era had to begin paying the full $13.99 rate. However, the earliest adopters, who remained at the $7.99 rate from the Music Key era, were still allowed to keep their legacy pricing.

    This final grandfathered pricing started disappearing in late 2024, with Europe being the first region affected. A global rollout is currently underway. These original subscribers face a substantial 75% increase from their original $7.99 rate to the current standard price of $13.99.

    As of early April 2025, YouTube Premium offers several key benefits designed to enhance the viewing and listening experience for its subscribers. One of the main advantages is ad-free viewing across all YouTube platforms, meaning there are no interruptions before or during videos.

    Another significant feature is background play, which allows audio from videos to continue playing even when the YouTube app is minimized or when the device’s screen is turned off. This is particularly useful for enjoying music or podcasts.

    In addition, Premium members can download videos and playlists directly to their mobile devices for offline viewing, making it perfect for times when internet access is unavailable, such as during commuting or traveling.

    Subscribers also get full access to YouTube Music Premium, which includes ad-free music streaming, background listening within the YouTube Music app, and the option to download songs and playlists for offline listening.

    Some users may also benefit from enhanced features like higher bitrate streaming options (such as 1080p Premium), which provide improved video quality on compatible devices, although availability may vary.

    Google is in the process of contacting early YouTube Premium adopters of the price hike. We’ve reached out to Google about the increase and will let you know if we hear back.

  • YouTube tests ad-free links to lure you into a Premium subscription

    YouTube Premium, despite its recent string of price hikes, has continued to grow and even diversify its subscription tiers with low-cost, watered-down plans. The most notable of its perks is ad-free video watching, which remains a core subscription driver for people who flock to the service for entertainment, work, or education.

    The company has now started testing a new feature that lets YouTube Premium subscribers share ad-free videos with their friends, family members, or any other acquaintances. It’s not a free buffet situation, however, as the number of shared ad-free videos maxes out at ten per month.

    The core premise is pretty straightforward. If you pay for an ad-free video-watching experience, can you share the same ten times each month. In hindsight, it’s a clever strategy to give more free users a taste of the ad-free nirvana, with hopes of eventually luring them into paying for a subscription.

    How ad-free links work on YouTube?

    The experiment is currently limited to YouTube Premium subscribers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. However, it may never launch globally, or take a while to expand, if the history of such experimental features is any indication.

    The YouTube app on an iPhone.
    Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

    “Sharing ad-free videos is an optional benefit and subject to be withdrawn at any time,” warns a Google support page, while also adding that Google may choose to expand it to more users in the near future. For YouTube Premium subscribers who are currently in the test pool, the platform’s share tool lets them pick a dedicated “Share-ad free” option.

    This one creates a custom ad-free viewing link, just the way subscribers to news sites can share gift links that temporarily take down the paywall for the recipients. In YouTube’s case, there are a bunch of exceptions for sharing ad-free links. For example, they won’t work for premium music videos, user-generated song content, YouTube Originals, Shorts, Livestreams, and Movies & Shows.

    Moreover, each ad-free link can only be watched ten times, and it only removes commercial breaks from a video for a span of 30 days. Another restriction is that the recipient must be signed in to YouTube and viewing it within the official Android or iOS app.

    Notably, the quota of ten ad-free links is counted on a per-video basis, and not how many people it is shared with. Moreover, if the ad-free link is shared with someone who is already a YouTube Premium subscriber, it won’t count towards the monthly allowance for sharing such video links.

  • YouTube’s upcoming audio settings is why you should upgrade to Premium

    If you use YouTube to discover and listen to music, you may no longer be bogged down by the insufficient audio quality. YouTube is preparing for updated audio settings which will open up options for high definition audio playback.

    Currently, YouTube has a top audio bitrate of 128kbps along with a 48KHz sample rate, which corresponds to CD-like quality of MP3 music. Android Authority spotted references to three audio settings, Auto, Normal, and High, in the source code of the YouTube beta app for Android. While Normal likely corresponds to the existing bitrate, we can expect the High option to allow for higher bitrate and sample rates — presumably at 256kbps and 96 or 192KHz, though the exact values are not specified. Meanwhile, the Auto option will choose the setting based on your network connection.

    Moreover, audio quality settings on YouTube will be independent of the video quality. That means, even if your video is running at a low 144p quality, you can still stream high quality audio. This would be ideal for cases when you just want to stream music and don’t have to look at videos.

    While the additional audio controls are exciting, there is a big caveat. These settings will only show up for you if you are a YouTube Premium subscriber. Since the Premium subscription also allows you to play YouTube with the screen off, this could be an excellent means to streaming music directly from the YouTube app. That could be another reason to switch to a paid tier, which costs $14 a month for individual users and $23 a month for a family (or any group of people) with up to five members.

    Additionally, the audio quality — similar to video quality — will depend on the uploader of the video and is unlikely to upscale for all content — even if Google has the computing power and AI tools to accomplish that easily.

    As with other under-development features, the timeline of this release is uncertain. YouTube might even axe it at a later stage, though we don’t see any reason why it should.