What just happened? YouTube has quietly raised the price of its Premium subscription service by $2 for those that pay monthly. The service will now set subscribers back $13.99 per month, an increase of nearly 17 percent over the previous $11.99 monthly rate.
YouTube Premium delivers an ad-free experience on YouTube and also allows subscribers to play clips in the background and download videos on mobile to watch offline. The membership additionally includes access to YouTube Music, Google's streaming music service.
Speaking of, YouTube increased the standalone cost of YouTube Music (if you don't have Premium) from $9.99 to $10.99 per month.
What we do not yet know if whether or not the new pricing will apply to existing subscribers. Some are reporting that their Premium membership price is still listed at $11.99, but it is simply too early to know for sure either way. With any luck, hopefully those users will get grandfathered in.
The price hikes come at a time when virtually everything from groceries to gadgets is getting more expensive. Earlier this week, Netflix axed its most affordable ad-free streaming option in the US and UK. Whereas it used to cost $9.99 per month for an ad-free Netflix experience, new and returning customers will now have to pay at least $15.49 a month to watch without commercials.
Late last year, YouTube increased the price of its Premium family plan by $5, pushing the monthly rate to $22.99. In March, the company tacked on $8 per month to YouTube TV, which now commands $73 a month.
A month later, Spotify chief Daniel Ek said the company was ready to raise prices. As of this writing, however, the music streaming giant hasn't made any changes.
Disney, Paramount, and Microsoft have all announced or implemented price hikes as of late. Fortunately, you can still get a good deal on some things like select PC hardware. DRAM has hit rock bottom and solid-state drives are expected to get even cheaper in the coming months.
Image credit: Alexander Shatov, Souvik Banerjee