Nearly three years after launching YouTube Red, the company is ditching the name in favor of YouTube Premium, a newly expanded subscription service.
YouTube Premium will be priced at $11.99 per month, $2 more than what the company charged for YouTube Red. But for the extra money, users will get access to more, the company says.
“Since launching YouTube Red in 2015, we’ve been thrilled with how people are enjoying the service, whether it’s downloading videos for a flight, binging the first season of Cobra Kai, or listening to the wide breadth of ad-free music. As part of ongoing enhancements to the member experience, today we’re excited to announce that YouTube Red is becoming YouTube Premium,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.
YouTube is promising an expanded slate of original content including comedies, dramas, reality series and action adventure shows from the U.K., Germany, France, Mexico and more. YouTube Premium will also offer ad-free viewing, background play and downloads for offline viewing.
For the $11.99 price, YouTube Premium will also roll in the new YouTube Music service. YouTube Music is packaged in a mobile app and new desktop player, and offers ad-free listening and viewing, background play and downloads. YouTube is making its new music service available on its own for $9.99 per month.
YouTube Premium is rolling out soon in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. In the near future, it will launch in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
