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YouTube Premium is getting a huge price hike in over a dozen countries, sparking user backlash. Some countries are experiencing hikes between 30% and 50% (mas.to)

submitted 1 month ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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YouTube Premium users across the globe are facing significant price hikes as Google increases subscription costs in over a dozen countries. This follows earlier price jumps in various regions, including the United States last summer. The latest increases vary by region, with some countries experiencing hikes between 30% to 50%. For instance, in Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, the Family plan will rise from €18 to €26 starting November, while the individual plan will increase by €2 to €14.

Countries affected by these changes include Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, UAE, Switzerland, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Colombia, Thailand, Singapore, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, and Denmark. Although most Reddit reports are from European users, the price hikes also impact the Middle East, Colombia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. YouTube had already raised its subscription prices in India by 15–20% in late August.

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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That might be their response, yes. But they also have some other options:

improve the service to be worth the cost
reduce the cost to increase Premium subs - I have a price in mind, and they're way above it
add an a la carte alternative to Premium (i.e. pay per video or something)
cut expenses, such as by reducing the amount of useless videos that are uploaded (i.e. small charge to upload videos, recur every year; allow some amount for free)

But no, raising prices is the easier "solution." I'm willing to pay (I pay for Nebula, after all), I'm just not willing to pay what they're asking for the service as-is.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Okay, so if you are not willing to pay that's entirely reasonable, you can then not use the service or use it with ads.

Dont get me wrong, I do have pirated movies and shows, it has reasons like scrubs they changed the music, community they took down an episode for no reason, but that shit doesn't cost anyone anything I dont use extra bandwith or anything

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

There's a third option: use the service with an ad blocker. The way I see it, that's not piracy, it's a TOS violation, and they're free to block me from their site. But as long as I'm not bypassing copyright protections or something, it's not piracy. I think using something like Invidious or other FEs could constitute piracy, but just using their website w/ an ad-blocker isn't.

I'm willing to pay (again, I pay for Nebula), but I'm not willing to pay the price they're asking for.