As part of a larger push to boost its global subscriptions, Google’s YouTube is pilot-testing a discounted two-person Premium plan with select users in France, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan. The tier’s pilot program, which allows users to share their YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium membership with another household member (13 years or older) without committing to a family plan, comes as the platform looks to diversity beyond its advertising business. YouTube is testing whether the plan, similar to the Duo offering from music streamer Spotify, would be appealing to couples or roommates looking to minimize costs while maintaining separate accounts.

“YouTube recently hiked the prices of its premium subscription across many markets,” reports Indian financial news site Moneycontrol, which first broke the story. “In India, prices were increased by 12 percent to 58 percent.”

“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 confirmed with Moneycontrol.

YouTube’s Premium plan provides ad-free content with the options to download videos for offline playback and play videos in the background. Google has been working to grow its subscription revenue by increasing premium sub prices and cracking down on ad blockers.

According to TechCrunch, “people who may have canceled their Premium plans after price hikes in recent years may decide to sign up for the discounted two-person plan.” YouTube also recently introduced “a new premium subscription tier called Premium Lite that lets users watch ‘most’ videos ad-free for $7.99 per month.”

However, Premium Lite does not “include ad-free music videos, YouTube Music access, or offline background play,” notes TechRadar. “So it’s ideal if you want YouTube Premium but already have access to a music streaming service.”

In October, YouTube’s total revenue exceeded $50 billion over four quarters for the first time, according to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent Alphabet. YouTube’s Music and Premium services surpassed 125 million global subscribers in March.

Related:
YouTube Will Blur the Thumbnails of ‘Mature’ Videos as Part of a New Test, Engadget, 4/30/25
YouTube Is Testing AI Overviews in Its Search Results, Search Engine Land, 4/24/25