YouTube is raising Premium prices in the U.S. while denying that it's serving up long, un-skippable ads
The individual plan is going from $13.99 to $15.99 a month, with family and music tiers also seeing increases
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Google $GOOGL's YouTube is raising prices across its Premium and YouTube Music subscription tiers in the U.S., the company confirmed, marking the first increases since 2023.
The YouTube Premium individual plan will rise from $13.99 to $15.99 a month. The family plan, which covers up to six accounts, climbs from $22.99 to $26.99 a month. YouTube Premium Lite, the stripped-down tier that removes ads from most videos but leaves out music content, offline saving, and background playback, will tick up a dollar to $8.99 a month.
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On the music side, the YouTube Music individual plan goes from $10.99 to $11.99 a month, while the family plan rises from $16.99 to $18.99 a month.
The higher prices apply to new sign-ups right away, while current members will not be billed at the new rates until their June billing cycle, according to Variety; YouTube has said it will send affected subscribers an email warning at least a month before the change hits.
"We're updating the price for YouTube Premium plans in the U.S. for the first time since 2023 to continue delivering a high-quality experience that supports creators and artists on YouTube," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. "This change allows us to maintain the features our members value most: ad-free viewing, background play, and a massive library of 300M+ tracks on YouTube Music."
The previous round of price increases dates to July 2023, when Premium subscribers absorbed a $2-a-month jump to $13.99 and YouTube Music climbed from $9.99 to $10.99. As of a March 2025 announcement, the two services together counted 125 million subscribers globally, a figure that had grown from 100 million the year before.
The announcement came alongside a separate controversy: Some users reported encountering un-skippable 90-second ads while watching YouTube on their TVs. In a post on X $TWTR, the platform pushed back on the reports, stating: "YouTube does not have a 90-second non-skippable ad format. This isn't something we are testing right now." According to Forbes, the denial did little to quiet complaints, with viewers continuing to insist they had encountered the ads.
The price increases follow a broader wave of subscription rate hikes across the streaming industry. Netflix $NFLX raised prices on all U.S. plans — by $1 to $2 depending on tier — with its standard plan reaching $19.99 a month and its premium tier climbing to $26.99. Disney $DIS+, Hulu, HBO Max, and Peacock all raised prices last year, and Spotify $SPOT moved its individual plan from $11.99 to $12.99 a month earlier this year.