In the era of streaming services, the trend of rising subscription prices has become increasingly prevalent. Just when you thought you’d seen it all, YouTube decided to join the price increase bandwagon. Back in July, the company raised the price of its YouTube Premium in the United States, bumping the individual plan from $11.99 to $13.99 per month. Fortunately, the family and student plans remained unaffected, with prices holding steady at $22.99 and $7.99 per month, respectively.
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Now, YouTube is expanding these price hikes to additional countries across Europe, Asia, and South America. The affected countries include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, Germany, Poland, and Turkey, with the price adjustments taking effect from November 1st.
These price increases aren’t limited to YouTube Premium alone; they also impact YouTube Music Premium, affecting individual, family, and student plans. Subscribers in these countries with existing memberships will witness the price hike during their next billing cycle.
YouTube isn’t the only streaming service guilty of recent price hikes. Apple, too, increased the rates for Apple TV Plus, Apple News Plus, Apple Arcade, and Apple One just last month. It appears that many streaming platforms are making concerted efforts to steer users toward ad-supported plans by making ad-free subscriptions more expensive.
Coinciding with these price hikes, YouTube is taking measures to combat users employing ad blockers on its platform. The company has rolled out a new policy that disables video playback after three videos if it detects ad-blocking activity, a change applied globally.
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As streaming services continue to evolve and adapt their pricing models, consumers may be left wondering whether they can expect any relief from these ongoing price hikes. In a world where streaming has become an integral part of entertainment, it remains to be seen how the industry will balance subscription affordability with the need to maintain quality content and services.