YouTube Premium Widens Global Presence, Rolls Out to 10 More Countries

YouTube Premium has been expanded to ten new countries. The paid tier of the popular video-streaming giant was already available in a large number of regions, but Google has now expanded it further, bringing the total number of countries with an option to purchase the subscription to 100. Alongside its basic subscription tiers, the tech giant has also introduced its more affordable student plans in all the newly added countries. Notably, this expansion comes after YouTube Premium crossed 100 million subscribers in February 2024, nine years after a paid tier on YouTube was first introduced.

The geographic expansion was first spotted by Android Police. The publication found that Google recently updated the information on its support page relating to YouTube Premium and added ten new countries to available locations. These locations include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Morocco, Réunion, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. This brings up the total number of countries where the premium subscription is available to 100, based on the listing. Currently, only 99 countries have the service available, as it has been temporarily disabled in Russia.

As per the report, all ten countries will get YouTube Premium's family and student plans, alongside the basic individual plan, allowing a chance to get the subscription at a discounted rate. The student plan is available to full-time students at higher education institutions. However, their student status will be annually verified by a third-party verification service. The family subscription allows users to add up to 5 family members of age 13 or older to join the Google family group and take advantage of a single subscription which is priced slightly higher than the individual plan.

With the YouTube Premium subscription, users can get features such as unlimited ad-free videos, the option to download videos and play them offline, and background play via picture-in-picture mode. It also bundles the subscription to YouTube Music.

In India, the YouTube Premium subscription starts at Rs. 129 per month upon enabling recurring payments and comes with a two-month free trial. Prepaid subscriptions start at Rs. 139 a month. The Family plan has been priced at Rs. 189 a month, whereas the Student plan is available at the price of Rs. 79 a month. Both plans offer a one-month free trial period.