You really can suffer through YouTube’s annoying ads most days. But if you have a bit to spend, the Premium plan does offer features that are meaningful. Whether they’re worth the price is yours to decide. But most people would say that it isn’t. $14 a month is a lot for one person when you compare the platform to proper streaming services that offer full movies and a whole viewing experience.
If you got the family plan, you’d be paying $23. There is no balance and it seems like Google has realized this. They’re now introducing a two-person Premium plan to YouTube. It gives you most benefits from the full plan without forcing you into the five-person family tier.
Two is company and five is a crowd
YouTube is testing a new subscription tier that allows two people, typically in the same household, to share a single YouTube Premium or Music Premium membership. This pilot is currently limited to India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
We’re experimenting with new ways to provide greater flexibility and value to our YouTube Premium subscribers, including offering a two-person Premium plan option, allowing two people to share a subscription at a reduced cost.
YouTube spokesperson to MoneyControl
The idea is to offer a more affordable alternative to the five-person family plan, while still giving users ad-free videos, background play, downloads, and access to YouTube Music. It will benefit couples, roommates, or just anyone sharing their space. It’s part of Google’s broader strategy to boost subscription revenue as it looks to reduce reliance on advertising income.
So these really are strategic places and couldn’t be better for the company to test how well a pared-down Premium plan performs across different user bases. India is a huge growth market with price-sensitive users, France offers insight into the European Union’s regulatory landscape, while Taiwan and Hong Kong give a mix of high-tech adoption and regional consumer habits. It’s also great timing since they increased the grandfathered $7.99 Premium plan to $12.99, nudging longtime users to reconsider their subscription options.
Related: See the new features that came with YouTube’s birthday celebrations
Ironically, you need to pretend to be family
The new subscription pilot is currently running in India at Rs 219 (≈ $3) per month, alongside a Music Premium variant at Rs 149 (≈ $2). It’s likely part of the broader Premium Lite plan, which YouTube has been quietly expanding since 2021 and more recently in March 2025 to the US and other regions.
Premium Lite also strips YouTube Premium down to its most in-demand feature. That is, ad-free viewing on most videos for $8 monthly. It leaves out extras like YouTube Music, offline downloads, and background play. Plus it’s priced lower.
YouTube has even set a condition for the new two-person plan. Even though you don’t need five people to share with, you still need you to act like a family. So, you and the other user must be in the same Google Family Group and over the age of 13. A Google Family Group is a feature that lets up to six people share eligible Google services, including YouTube Premium, Google One storage, and Google Play purchases under one billing account.
