So this is some bollocks. Guess I'll be cancelling our plan since it's only used by two of us.
Current price $17.99/month, new price $32.99/month.
If they boiled the frog better I would probably have accepted a $5/month price rise, and then another later... But close to doubling in one go is a no from me dawg.
Thank you for being a loyal member throughout our journey. We created YouTube Premium so that you could enjoy all the videos and music you love without interruptions.
To continue delivering great service and features, we are increasing the YouTube Premium family plan price to A$32.99/month. We don't make these decisions lightly, and this update will allow us to continue to improve YouTube Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube. This is the first ever price increase for your subscription.
Links to cancellation etc: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12400348?sjid=6028684095030617608-AP
I'm never going to shed any tears for Google losing revenue, and I've got no issues with people using adblockers etc. That said, I think saying that not being able to understand why people pay for it risks being a bit narrow minded.
Paying for things that you use shouldn't be seen as some abherrent action. If you watch an hour of YouTube a day on average that's still less than a buck an hour even with the price hike. I imagine some folks also like the convenience of being able to just use the official aps without fucking around, particularly if they have iPhones.
Pay for premium, or watch ads, or get into the ad-avoidance arms race, or stop using YouTube. It doesn't bother me which one people choose. But this opinion that some folks seem to have that they are for some reason entitled to gratis, ad-free video streaming is so bizarre.
Indeed, and as I posted elsewhere these days I'm far less likely to buy into a product where it's not clear how money is being made as was the case for Youtube and the last decade. It's only been free and easily ad-blockable for this long because the Silicon Valley way is to make a product that really can't exist on it's own but survives due to the deep pockets of the company or VC until it dominates the market and then turn the screws. Tie this to the fact these are all publicly traded and there is never enough growth, and we get here.
This is why enshittification is suddenly top of mind for everyone. For the last couple of decades, we've been enjoying the fruits of this model and we're now reaching the part where everything has consolidated and the surviving companies start jacking up prices and so forth. Netflix, Uber, Amazon, Reddit, Google/Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, etc have all done this in one way or another.
Agreed, and further if a company today presented this as their model, I would be skeptical as hell and unlikely to even try the service.
That said, I'm not losing any tears for Google. I'm in the US so not subject to this price increase, and while I do pay for Premium and find a lot of value in the service, I wouldn't be able to tolerate a near doubling in price.
Those are some good points, and I think what you've highlighted is probably a part of the reason why so many people seem to have the "YouTube should be free" reaction. They literally cannot remember a time before VC money was paying for a lot of services on their behalf.