The price hike was first noticed by YouTube Premium customers in Canada, who saw the cost of their Premium Family Plan go up from $17.99 to $22.99 virtually overnight. Soon enough, a similar update was launched for the US market, with the same rates being reflected in their accounts. Even UK customers received notifications that the family plan was going up from £17.99 to £19.99 per month.
The hikes rippled across the continents, with prices in Japan going up from ¥1,780 ($11.83) per month to ¥2,280 ($15.16) per month. Indonesia getting a more modest upgrade from IDR 89,000 ($5.70) per month to IDR 99,000 ($6.34) per month, and Brazil is managing a hike of $BR 31.90 ($6.06) per month to $BR 34.90 ($6.44) per month.
But the worst hit was Turkey and Argentina, which saw the prices of both their family and individual plans go up. In Turkey, the family plan went up from TRY 29.99 ($1.61) per month to TRY 59.99 ($3.23) per month. It was the only country to see the student plan getting a price hike, going from TRY 9.99 ($0.54) per month to TRY 19.49 ($1.05) per month.
Similarly, users from Argentina received notifications that their family plan had gone up from ARS 699 ($4.55) per month up from ARS 179 ($1.17) per month. At the same time, their individual plan has changed from ARS 389 ($2.53) per month up to ARS 119 ($0.78) per month. This was the most drastic change, with the prices going up 290% and 220%, respectively.
YouTube is even tapping into users who were grandfathered into the system when they converted their now legacy Google Play Music subscription, which was raised from $14.99 all the way up to $22.99. The only saving grace is that their upgrades won't happen until the April of next year.
The rest of the world will have to start paying these new rates from as early as the 21st of November this year. The company is expected to keep updating the pricing plans in other countries as well, in keeping with this new norm. So, don't be surprised if you see the now-dreaded email notification in your inbox soon enough.
