YouTube Premium quietly goes up in price to $14 per month | That’s a significant $2 increase with no official announcement.::Google has quietly increased the price of YouTube Premium by a significant $2 from $12 to $14, according to the updated signup page…
Feel like we’re watching a lot of tech companies making a lot of bad decisions all at once. Reddit, Google, Netflix, Meta, Twitter, Hulu, etc. Regardless of the individual circumstances and bad actors in each case, it feels like they’re all being fueled by a shared, low-key desperation.
I know it sounds a little silly to blame this on one person, but honestly think it’s Elon’s fault.
A bunch of tech-bro CEO types idolize him and are jealous - thinking he is cool for getting to “say whatever he wants” to the public, his detractors - Hell… even the SEC… and he “gets away with it.”
Not only that, but he has gotten to present to cheering crowds on stage for companies people still mistakenly think Elon both founded and runs single-handedly like Tesla and SpaceX… and he has been positively referenced and guest appeared over the past decade in Marvel films and other “cool” pop culture like South Park and Rick & Morty.
…And so when Elon just said “fuck you” publicly to a bunch of his workers by firing a bunch of them… The Elon wannabes loved it.
Worse - they are influenced by his actions. Some have even openly said it.
So not only do people like spez go and fuck over their devs, their users, and advertisers… but the folks at the heads of lots of companies are doing the same. For example - and I don’t know if it was mentioned here but - Plex recently fired like 20% of their workforce.
If you’re just a bit tech savvy and don’t use your tv as your primary YouTube player then it’s reasonably easy to avoid ads and download stuff on YouTube no matter if you’re on Android, PC, or even iOS (yes without jailbreak).
I pay for it since I use it pretty often on my tv. I’ve gotten rid of other subscriptions to cover the cost. I use YouTube fairly often. My kid watches it on tv and I didn’t want him inundated with ads.
I feel like they forced me to pay though. I’d put on a show for my kid and 3 minutes in, there would be a 2 hour ad that played something completely different and pushed bullshit ads in front of him. I couldn’t subject him to that and there really isn’t an alternative.
Count me in on the group. Have been a family subscriber for awhile. Daughter is 7 and autistic so when an ad pops up she always installs the games then they are horrible and piss her off or she wants me to spend money on it because they force it down your throat. Easier to just give Google some money and not have to deal with it.
For anyone reading who’s curious about iOS options, using Yattee with your Invidious or Piped instance of choice is a good way to go!
Even with a TV there are options. I know Android/Google TV and LG WebOS both have apps available to sideload.
LG webOS? Please do tell what to do? I hate watching YT on my LG tv, its like two ads between each and every video…
I haven’t done it personally because I have an Android TV box connected to my LG TV with SmartTubeNext, but here’s an archived reddit post with a guide for it.
You can install uyou+ (a tweaked youtube app, found on github) via sideloadly, which requires a mac or pc.
You can look it up, theres plenty of guides. If you get stuck feel free to DM me or reply here.
NewPipe costs $13.99 less on my phone (where I watch YouTube most), and it has a better UX (for me) than the official app.
Any idea what to do to install microG? Whenever I try it says it conflicts with another instance, but no idea where is the old app.
I know I am gonna be one of the few, but I use YouTube as my main viewing of things. I don’t use Netflix, or any of the other services much. Premium is something I can’t be without anymore tbh, the ad free and downloading is super convenient for me and I like how a lot of my premium subscription goes to the creators I watch the most.
I don’t have a problem with them charging for the service. But they keep raising it dramatically over and over. You’re paying $15 a month to watch content a YouTube creator is getting 25 cents to create. If they wanted to charge $9.99 a month for a family plan I’d be all about it. At the prices they’re charging there are services running full blown movie houses
YouTube is a full blown movie house as well as a place for independent creators *Oops I was wrong
Yup happy to pay what I pay for youtube premium and youtube music, totally worth it for both!
Maybe I could find it expensive if it was only one service
You can get ad free Youtube with Firefox plus ublock origin for free. There are even Firefox extensions to skip the paid sponsor ads in every youtube video nowadays. There are also countless Youtube downloader programs out there. You don’t need to pay for it at all to get the features that YouTube premium offers.
Paying to support content creators is the only reason I would consider YouTube premium unless I was very tech illiterate, I guess. YouTube music also seems somewhat worth the price, in my opinion.
Edit: This comment can come off as condescending. I don’t mean it as such, if you pay for YouTube premium that’s cool. I just wanted to make it known that people don’t have to pay YouTube money to get those features if they don’t want to.
I get where you’re coming from, however I find it is personally easier and it is within my financial means to pay for premium instead. I am aware not everyone can but I am glad I can do that. I also support some creators through Patreon for their YouTube content as well. Currently, I am almost completely ad free with the content I consume and sometimes that means I pay money and other times I use an ad blocker. I should also note that I watch the majority of YouTube on my iPhone or on a PS4 and while there are alternatives on the App Stores I prefer the native YouTube apps.
I must be grandfathered in. I have YouTube Music for $9.99 a month that also includes YouTube Premium
