Now YouTube hikes its prices for millions of customers: Premium family plan jumps up by 30% – the biggest price increase in YEARS

YouTube has become the latest platform to increase its prices, following in the footsteps of Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+.

The price of the YouTube Premium family plan, which allows six accounts to use the same subscription, will increase by £2 from £17.99 to £19.99 in the UK.

Meanwhile, in the US and Canada, costs will increase from $17.99 (CA$17.99) to $22.99 (CA$22.99) – an increase of 30 per cent.

YouTube Premium allows users to watch without ads, download videos, and watch in the background of other apps.

While the price hike won’t come in to play until November 21, several disgrunteld customers have already taken to social media to complain, with some even threatening to quit the service entirely.  

On X (formerly Twitter) UK customers shared images of the emails they received informing them of the price increases

YouTube Premium customers were informed via email that their costs would be increasing.

Customers in the US and Canada were the first to discover that they would be facing price increases, with UK customers soon receiving emails of their own.  

In the email, YouTube writes: ‘We created YouTube Premium to provide an uninterrupted YouTube experience, so that you can get closer to the videos, creators and music artists that you love.’

It added that the prices would be raised in order to ‘continue delivering great service and features.’ 

YouTube appears to be very concerned about potential negative backlash, and has gone so far as to launch a new page specifically to collect ‘feedback about the YouTube Premium price change’.

Commenters say they are no longer prepared to pay the increased cost for advertisement-free watching as the price per month increases

On X (formerly Twitter), angry customers complained that the price hike was forcing them off the platform. 

One use said they were ‘cancelling my YouTuber premium due to the price increase.’

Another added: ‘It was already more than I would have liked, and I still ended up seeing ads at least once a week and had to reload. Disappointing.’

And one vented: ‘I had YouTube Premium from the start, and just cancelled mine after the price hike.

‘They are so out of touch with reality.’ 

The era of cheap streaming appears to be over, as scores of services have raised their prices this year.

Just last week, Disney+ introduced a price hike of up to up to £36/year, alongside the launch of a new, cheaper option of its service with adverts.

Up until now there had only been a single price for Disney+ in the UK — a £7.99 per month or £79.90 a year subscription.

Meanwhile, Netflix announced that it was hiking its prices for millions of customers in the UK last month, with some now facing monthly fees of up to £17.99 — an increase of £2 per month.

Its premium, ad-free plan now costs £17.99/month in the UK — a rise of £2, while the standard subscription will remain at £10.99 per month.