In an email to YouTube Premium subscribers this week, YouTube announced subscription price increases that will affect users on their platform. To its current members, YouTube announced that members of their YouTube Family subscriptions would increase their price from $17.99CAD/USD per month to $22.99CAD/USD per month. Individual subscribers are not slated to be affected by the rate increase (including those on individual student plans.)

YouTube Premium service is the ad-free premium option for YouTube fans that also want to enjoy access to music, extra features and offline video watching. The YouTube premium service is available in most countries, but the subscription price varies market by market. YouTube also offers additional paid services like YouTube TV in markets like the United States.

In recent months, Google has made headlines for trying to cut costs and curtail spending during economic difficulty. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was criticized recently in reports for “nickel and diming” employees. Perhaps instead of targeting cost-cutting, Google is trying to re-target its measures and drive-up revenue through cost increases to consumers.

Consumers likely to seek alternatives to paid subscriptions

As a result of ongoing economic turmoil and rising inflation, consumers are seeking alternatives to spending large sums of money on subscriptions online. Whether seeking tools like Ad-Blockers or adblocking browsers, consumers may turn to other options should the cost of subscription services continue to rise.