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.
Absurd to pay so much just to remove ads only for smart TVs. There are easy ways to block ads on phones and computers.
You don’t need to pay for smart TVs, if you have an Android TV you can just install SmartTube Next. It’s even better than the official app!
Honestly, every YouTube app alternative I’ve tried has been better, and my only issue is occasionally streams break, which is due to changes from YT, not the app. Instead of putting effort into making the experience worse elsewhere, why not make the experience on the official app better? Features I really like on other apps:
Some of those are premium features (why?), and others just don’t exist in the YT app. If the experience was better and the price was reasonable, I’d probably pay. But it’s not, so I use alternatives.
This is just the pregame for unblockable ads.
YT ads will never be unblockable. They legally have to be indicated somehow and people will always write software to detect them. Worst case scenario, you have to download videos you want to watch ahead of time.