YouTube Red becomes YouTube Premium

Google is putting an end to the awkwardly named YouTube Red, kind of. The subscription take on YouTube is getting a refresh, a price hike, and a much needed rebrand. YouTube Red will now be known as YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium.

At least no one is going to confuse it with RedTube anymore.

Both YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium will give you ad-free music, and background listening and offline downloads for music content. YouTube Premium will make all of YouTube ad-free, and give you background playback and downloads for all videos. YouTube Premium also includes access to YouTube Originals.

YouTube Music Premium will be billed at $11.99 per month, while YouTube Premium will cost a little more at $14.99 per month. There will also be a free ad-supported version of YouTube Music.

YouTube Music et all will launch locally on May 23.

Google Play Music will still be available for the time being, but Google intends to phase it out eventually. Existing Google Play Music and YouTube Red subscribers will continue to get the full suite of features for $11.99. If you've already got a membership, you won't need to pay more to get YouTube Premium content. New Google Play Music subscribers will only get access to YouTube Music Premium.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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