We asked, you answered – YouTube Premium’s price hike isn’t enough to cancel

We recently published a poll asking users if they planned on keeping YouTube Premium amid price hikes, and the answer genuinely surprised us.

YouTube Premium is seeing an increase from $11.99/month to $13.99/month. That price tag is attached to the individual plan, with the family solution remaining the same at $22.99/month, though it saw its own increase toward the end of last year.

That difference might be negligible, but we all know how quickly small subscription adjustments can add up year over year. YouTube hasn’t made any statements about upcoming features that would warrant a $2 monthly increase. The change isn’t surprising, however. Services like Apple Music, Netflix, and Spotify have all recently seen fee increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

YouTube Premium is factually superior to the free version. The absence of ads is enough for some to justify the monthly payment and the additional features, like background play, just sweeten the deal. However, we really thought that a $2 increase per month would be enough for a good portion of readers to cut ties and opt for a perfectly fine free version. Guess not.

Most readers choose not to cancel

In a poll posted a little over a week ago, we asked you, the readers, to let us know if you plan on keeping YouTube Premium at $13.99/month or saying goodbye and opting for the free version. We also threw in a couple of alternative answers, such as “Yes, but I’m keeping YouTube Music” and “I don’t have YouTube Premium” to include everyone.

Related: So, are you canceling your YouTube Premium subscription?

Tallying up every single click, over half of the total votes – 8,699 – went toward “No.” That means over half of those who voted are keeping YouTube Premium. As for those who are ditching the service, that makes up 27% – 4,570 – of voters. That’s just over half of the individuals sticking with Premium.

Those who are sticking with YouTube Premium gave some insightful answers, citing the usefulness YouTube provides and the amount of content involved versus streaming services.

Out of all the subscriptions I have – this is the last one I’d get rid of. YouTube is my most used app and YouTube music being part of it – it pays for itself since I don’t have to sub to Apple Music or Spotify or whatever. It going up $2 is fine.

Commenter

I use both services far more than the price justifies. So I definitely get my money’s worth. However, if they’re going to increase the price then they better start giving more useful features. They’re really is only so much you can do with YouTube, but the experimental things are welcome.

Commenter

Another common positive listed is the inclusion of YouTube Music in the Premium bundle. What would normally be a $10 monthly fee is added to your $14 monthly total. That seems like a pretty good deal. The trade-off is that YouTube Music’s quality is famously lesser than other dedicated streaming services like Apple Music, but it’s a cheap add-on.

Our readers also made it clearly known that YouTube needs to do more to justify the price. An additional middle tier also needs to be added that brings some Premium features at a fraction of the price. These changes would go a long way in justifying the price increase. Currently, that increase is limited to the US, though Google has made no mention as to whether or not it’ll expand into other regions.

For now, most of our readers look to be sticking with YouTube Premium because it offers supplementary features like Music, no ads, and a limitless amount of content. On top of that, experimental features that go first to Premium members are regular and provide a little extra functionality. For others, that still isn’t worth the new $13.99 monthly cost.

Until YouTube adds a middle tier that gets rid of ads but doesn’t offer features most users won’t use on a regular basis, the Premium service will be a hot topic for many.