Key Takeaways
- YouTube Premium subscribers are facing a surprise price hike in Europe and South America, affecting individual, family, and even student plans.
- The price increase appears significant, with reports of hikes in Europe of up to 61% for family plans.
- Even grandfathered account holders, including past Music Key subscribers, are now being affected by the price hike.
A wave of despair has suddenly swept YouTube Premium subscribers in several countries thanks to the platform’s latest round of price hikes that seemingly came out of nowhere. We’re seeing several reports of users receiving emails from YouTube and YouTube Music, and this time, it looks like even grandfathered plans have been caught in the crossfire.
It is currently unclear if this is the September-announced price hike going into effect, or an entirely new one.
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Several users on Reddit have reported receiving an email from YouTube about the hike. We’ve spotted instances of hikes in Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Bulgaria, Turkey, and more, and the hike applies to individual, family, and even the student discount plan. Additionally, unlike the price increase in September, this one doesn’t appear to be limited to Europe as we’ve also spotted users from Costa Rica and Uruguay airing their grievances.
“The family plan used to cost me 5,690 CRC (roughly $11), but now the price has jumped to 8,390 CRC (roughly $16). That’s nearly a 47% increase,” wrote user nightdriveavenger. Similarly, the individual Premium subscription appears to have gone up from 3,690 CRC to 4,190 CRC/mo (from roughly $7 to $8).
In Europe, however, the hike appears to be more aggressive. According to user reports, the Premium family plan is going up to €20.99 from €12.99/mo previously. That’s a massive 61 percent increase. Similarly, a different user reported that their family plan was increasing from €16.99 per month to €25.99. The new pricing doesn’t appear to have kicked in yet, with the hike going into effect with users’ next billing cycle.
Even early Music Key adopters aren’t safe this time around
More importantly though, it appears that the hike has also made its way to grandfathered account holders. For reference, when YouTube first launched its ‘Music Key’ service back in 2014, it charged early adopters $7.99 (and equivalent in foreign currency) per month for features like offline support, background audio, no ads, and more. The subscription eventually went up to $9.99, though early adopters continued enjoying ther service’s features for $7.99. The service eventually evolved into YouTube Premium as we know it today, and expanded to include ad-free videos for regular YouTube — with early adopters continuing to pay $7.99.
Now, as spotted by 9to5Google, grandfathered account holders in Europe have begun receiving emails to notify them about the hike. “Since you’ve been with your subscription for quite some time and we value your loyalty, right now you pay less for your Music Premium subscription than new subscribers. To show that we appreciate your loyalty, we will give you at least 3 more months with the current price before the price increase applies to your plan,” reads an email YouTube sent to user 4w3som3.
This comes roughly a year-and-a-half after grandfathered YouTube family accounts received a price hike. It is currently unclear if and when the price hike will make its way to Music Key early adopters in the US.
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