summary
- YouTube is considering a new premium plan that will let you share perks with friends.
- The company is aware of the issues with premium controls and is working to speed up access.
- We’re also working on improving your download experience and fixing storage issues.
Google introduced several features for YouTube Premium subscribers, allowing them to jump to the more interesting parts of a video and watch Shorts in a picture-in-picture (PiP) window. But that’s not the only improvement the company announced today. The company is working on many more changes and updates for the platform, some of which have been detailed by members of the YouTube team in the community forums. Among other things, YouTube is considering introducing a new premium plan to better suit users’ requirements.
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In the post YouTube Community Forum (via The Verge), Hazel from the YouTube team said the company wants to introduce additional paid tiers and is “looking at ways to let you share your benefits with your friends in the future.” YouTube currently offers three paid monthly tiers: a Premium subscription for $13.99, a Family plan for $22.99 and the option to add up to five family members, and a Student plan for $7.99 per month.
YouTube plans to expand its existing membership plans to more regions, but has not said anything about what plans it plans to introduce. The video-sharing platform could launch a cheaper, ad-free paid plan without other premium perks. Or, it could consider introducing a membership plan that lets you share your subscription with loved ones, similar to Spotify Duo.
YouTube Premium has become more expensive over the last year, and YouTube has been cracking down on fraudulent ways to get a cheaper subscription, so a more affordable plan with fewer features could appeal to a wider audience.
YouTube is working to speed up access to premium controls
Additionally, YouTube is aware of issues with lost queues and difficulty accessing premium controls and is working to resolve these issues. YouTube will also ensure that the “Continue Watching” feature only applies to the video you’re watching, not the playback queue.
Finally, YouTube says it aims to improve the download experience in the app and resolve any storage-related issues that many users continue to face, though this is an “evergreen workstream” for the team and more work is always needed in this area.