YouTube Premium

Back in March, YouTube started testing “Jump ahead” and is now making it more widely available through youtube.com/new for Premium subscribers.

YouTube is consistently rolling out new features to a small set of users before they become widely available, known as “experiments.” The latest one called “jump ahead” skips to the best parts of a YouTube video for you.

The service people most want from Google One is YouTube Premium. That is the holy grail for a Google subscription and calls for it will only increase now that Nest Aware and Fitbit Premium are coming — starting in the UK — at no extra cost.

YouTube announced today that Music and Premium has 100 million subscribers. It follows Sundar Pichai revealing that Google One was about to reach the same milestone. 

Google is bringing the YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium subscriptions to 10 more countries/regions for a grand total of 110 locations.

Aggressive Pixel 8 and 8 Pro sales that reward existing users of Google services continue today with a further $125 off the phones if you’re a YouTube Premium member.

YouTube in July announced the US price increase for Premium, but grandfathered accounts got to keep the old rate for a few more months. According to an email today, that’s now set to change in January.

As international YouTube Premium increases get underway, Google is making official a handful of features for the subscription.

Following the United States in July, YouTube Premium’s international price increase is starting. The Google video is rolling this out slowly across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America.

YouTube Premium offers quite a bit, but its biggest attraction is ad-free videos. That’s what made YouTube “Premium Lite” attractive, as it brought ad-free viewing for less money. However, the tier is now shutting down in some countries.

Ads on YouTube are a bit of a mess, with ad breaks often dominating the experience, which has driven some to using ad blocker tools. Lately, though, YouTube really seems to be cracking down on those users, with more aggressive blocking of ad blockers.

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’s latest price hikes have come as part of a wave of other services doing the same. For a service that offers niche upgrades over the free version, are you going to cancel YouTube Premium and go back to free?

The price of an individual YouTube Premium subscription is increasing by $2 to $13.99 per month in the US for new and current customers.

YouTube is adding an experimental new feature that blocks any touches or taps during a video. Confusingly named “Lock Screen,” this unreleased feature is available for Premium members to test out.

As it has done for the smart TV experience and Music, YouTube is now asking for feedback about YouTube Premium with a poll on top issues and complaints.

For some reason, YouTube now lets Premium subscribers earn badges that are based on usage. There does not appear to be any benefits to collecting them. 

Ads on YouTube may be annoying at times, but they’re the lifeblood of the world’s largest video platform. But as YouTube plays with longer ads that you can’t skip and blocking users who use an ad blocker, it’s time for a discussion on a cheaper version of YouTube Premium.

The YouTube Music app on Android and iOS this evening (Pacific Time) sent a “preview ends soon” notification in error to many users.

For years, YouTube Premium has centered around removing ads, background playback (Picture-in-Picture), and offline downloads. YouTube is now expanding what perks are offered with a Premium subscription.