YouTube Premium and YouTube Music finally arrived in India on March 12, 2019 — the country with the highest viewership of YouTube videos globally.
Formerly launched as YouTube Red in October 2015, the service was relaunched as YouTube Premium in June 2018. At the time of the relaunch, it was available in 17 countries. Now, with the addition of India to the fold, YouTube Premium is available across 43 countries.
Update [27/11/2019]: YouTube Premium is now available in 78 countries while YouTube Music Premium is available in 77 countries.
In this article, we talk about YouTube Premium and YouTube Music’s price, features, availability, restrictions, family plan and student plan.
Also read: Netflix vs Amazon Prime Video vs Hotstar vs YouTube Premium
What is YouTube Premium’s Price in India
YouTube Premium’s price in India is INR 129 per month with a 3-month trial period. If you wish to only subscribe to YouTube Music, it costs INR 99 per month.
The Family Plan is also available in India for INR 189 per month with a 1-month trial period.
Only first-time YouTube Premium, Music Premium, YouTube Red or Google Play Music subscribers are eligible for the free trial and introductory offers.
Your account will be automatically charged after the three-month trial period. You can cancel the subscription at any time during the trial period without incurring any charges. YouTube doesn’t offer any refunds if you cancel in the middle of a month.
Samsung Galaxy S10 users will get a four-month trial period.
You can check the complete list of countries below where YouTube Premium service is available.
YouTube Premium is available in USA for $11.99, and the YouTube Music Premium is available for $9.99.
Also read: 25 must-watch Netflix Originals you should binge on
YouTube Premium features
- Ad-free: Users will be able to watch videos without ads interfering at any time — on smartphones, desktop or TV — except the ones that are embedded into the videos by the creators themselves.
- Background: Videos can be played either in the background or the picture-in-picture mode — even if you’re using another app.
- Offline: Videos can also be downloaded and watched offline later. While this option is also available in the free YouTube app, YouTube Premium gets you more videos to choose from for offline viewing.
- YouTube Originals: Just like Netflix and Amazon Prime has movies and series coming out of their production, YouTube has also put money into creating several movies and series too– including the ones starring popular YouTubers — that are available with the YouTube Premium subscription.
- YouTube Kids:Â The YouTube kids app also runs ad-free and the videos can be downloaded to be viewed offline.
- YouTube Gaming:Â YouTube Premium also gets you an ad-free experience on YouTube Gaming. The content can also be downloaded and viewed offline, and can also be played in the background.
- Google Play Music:Â YouTube Premium subscribers also get Google Play Music services for free.
Features like downloading videos for offline viewing, background playback won’t work if you visit a country that doesn’t have YouTube Premium subscription available yet. It’s also possible that you’ll see ads in your videos.
All the YouTube Original movies and series will be available when travelling outside of a country without Premium subscription sans the ability to download or play them in the background.
If you have a downloaded video on the device, it’ll be available for 30 days and won’t renew.
Also read: Top 8 YouTube Music app tips and tricks to make the most out of your subscription
Additional details about Offline viewing on YouTube Premium
Once a video or song has been downloaded, it can be viewed for up to 30 days without having to connect to the internet. This time limit is renewed every time your device is connected to the internet, though there is a possibility that some videos might not get renewed once you reconnect to the internet due to “content restrictions from video creators”.
If your device has less than 5% storage available then you won’t be able to download more videos unless you free up space either by removing a downloaded video or otherwise.
While viewing videos offline, you won’t be able to comment or like the post. If your internet connection breaks while downloading a video, it will resume from where it left off once you’re reconnected.
Also read: Top 5 websites for streaming or watching games
YouTube Music Premium features
In addition to being ad-free, having the ability to download songs to listen to offline and play music in the background, YouTube Music Premium subscription also gets you the following:
- Play music with the screen locked: You can now finally play music via YouTube without having to worry about locking your device and cutting off the song mid-way. YouTube Music Premium will keep the music playing even if the screen is locked.
- Audio-only mode: You can turn on this mode to listen to songs without needing to load the music video.
- Easy search: With YouTube Music Premium you can find music by searching lyrics or even describing the song.
YouTube Music Premium is available for mobile and desktop. The benefits of your subscription will not be available if you’re visiting a country that doesn’t have the YouTube Music Premium available yet.
If you reside in a country where YouTube Premium still isn’t available, check out How to play YouTube videos with a locked screen on Android.
Also read: Top 5 Internet radio stations for music lovers
YouTube Premium Family plan
A family subscription will let a total of six members use the YouTube Premium service. All of these family members need to have a Google account, be older than 13 years and also reside in the same house as the person with whose ID the subscription has been purchased.
The person purchasing the Family plan needs to be 18 years or older, have a Google account, live in a country where Premium is available, cannot be a part of more than one family group or sign up via a G Suite account.
All of the six members using the family plan will have individual viewing/listening preference, will get unique recommendations and continue to see their library and subscriptions. None of the preferences is shared with other accounts using the Family plan
Note: Family plans aren’t available in Korea
Also read: What is the Download Limit on YouTube?
YouTube Premium Student plan
Introduced in November 2018, YouTube Student is only available in USA with no indication of whether or not it’s coming to India or any of the other countries where YouTube Premium is available. We’ll update this space once more information is released by the company.
However, if you’re thinking about getting a YouTube Premium Student plan in USA, one of the first questions you might have for the is that who qualifies for it and how much does it cost? We’ll get right into it.
The YouTube Premium Student membership costs $6.99 and a YouTube Music Premium subscription costs $4.99.
To be able to sign up for a YouTube Premium Student plan, you’ll need to be a full-time student at a United States Title IV accredited college or university and also get verified by SheerID.
Student plan can be subscribed to for a maximum of four years. Your eligibility will be re-verified every year.
If you wish to switch your standard YouTube Premium subscription to a Student plan, you’ll need to cancel the existing subscription first to be able to sign-up for the student plan.
Also read: Top 7 YouTube alternatives every streamer must check out
Which countries have YouTube Premium?
Following is a list of countries that have YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahrain
- Belgium
- Bolivia
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Oman
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Romania
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Korea (YouTube Music Premium isn’t available here)
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
Also read: Top 11 tech channels on YouTube that you must check out
