KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — YouTube Premium has increased its subscription prices for Malaysian users, the first such increase for individual subscribers since the service was introduced in 2019 but the second in just over a year for those on the Family package.

According to information on its subscription page now, YouTube has raised the Individual monthly subscription to RM20.90, up from RM17.90 previously.

The Student plan has also gone up to RM12.90 per month, an increase of RM2.00 from before.

The largest hit is for the Family package, which is now RM40.90. This had been RM26.90 when it was first introduced, before it was raised to RM33.90 in May last year. The latest increase meant that the package price has gone up by 52 per cent since its launch five years ago.

"We don’t make these decisions lightly, but this update will allow us to continue to improve Premium and support the creators and artists you watch on YouTube,” the Google subsidiary said in an email announcing the price increase to subscribers.

YouTube Premium is a subscription that offers ad-free viewing on the platform, along with a bundled YouTube Music service. Subscribers are also able to play videos and music in the background as well as download these for offline use.

The increase comes at a time when Google and YouTube have been increasing measures to block apps and browser extensions that effectively offer features from YouTube Premium without the requisite subscription.