YouTube Premium Hikes Price by 75%, Ending $7.99 Grandfathered Rates in January

YouTube announced a price hike for Premium in the United States in July, although grandfathered accounts were allowed to preserve the old cost for a few more months. According to an email sent today, that will change in January.

Grandfathered YouTube Premium Users Will See A Price Increase In January

In July, the price of an individual YouTube Premium subscription increased by $2 to $13.99 per month for both existing and new consumers, per 9to5Google. Those who were grandfathered by Google Play Music or YouTube Red, on the other hand, received "at least three extra months at [their] current price before the price increase will impact" them.

YouTube stated at the time that the fee would not be raised before December to offer appreciation to its loyal members. That term is now over, and $9.99 - or even $7.99 - grandfathered users will now pay $13.99 per month for YouTube Premium beginning in January.

In mid-November, YouTube introduced the latest Premium features, telling customers to expect "new features and exclusive benefits that help you dive deeper into the content you love" in the future.

On a perhaps related point, some grandfathered YouTube Premium subscribers who use YouTube Music appear to be seeing an "Upgrade" tab in the bottom bar. This is normally restricted to free users or those on free trials. However, due to a problem, the promotion is now appearing for paying clients.

Google Podcasts To Shut Down In April, YouTube Music Export Looms

Meanwhile, in another news, Google recently provided a more specific timeframe for when Google Podcasts will cease operations in 2024, while export options for YouTube Music and other apps will be available soon.

Google Podcasts will cease operations in the United States "as early as April 2024," with the company assuring access until March, according to a separate 9to5Google report. Ahead of that, Google Podcasts will soon be able to "Export subscriptions" to YouTube Music, with a large banner at the top of the screen indicating this. The "Transfer" is then confirmed on YouTube Music.

If you want to use a different app, you can export your Google Podcasts subscriptions as an OPML file. You will have until July 2024 in the United States to migrate/export from Google Podcasts.

Google also announced today that podcast episodes will be able to be "marked as played" on YouTube Music. This will be released "in the coming months," but ideally much sooner, as this is a must-have feature for any podcasting client. If you come across an episode that you don't want to listen to today, your only alternative is to scrub to the end manually. YTM should definitely include new episode alerts.

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