YouTube hopes to reel in college students as paying customers with steeply discounted pricing plans for its ad-free streaming services.
The video service has launched student plans for YouTube Music Premium priced at $4.99 per month — a 50% discount off the regular $9.99 monthly price — and for YouTube Premium at available $6.99, a 42% discount from the standard $11.99 monthly fee. In addition, students who sign up for YouTube Premium by Jan. 31, 2019, can secure a special rate of $5.99 per month.
YouTube Music Premium, the latest incarnation of Google’s music-streaming service, provides advertising-free access to millions of songs, official albums and playlists, as well as a catalog of music videos, remixes, live performances, covers and more. It also provides background listening and offline access features.
YouTube Premium (previously called YouTube Red) eliminates ads across all videos, including music, and adds access to YouTube’s originals, including “Cobra Kai,” an offshoot of the “Karate Kid” movies; sci-fi series “Origin”; sitcom “Foursome”; “Escape the Night” with Joey Graceffa; and “The Thinning” dystopian films starring Logan Paul and Peyton List.
The deal is available only to full-time students in the U.S. right now. YouTube says it will expand the offers to other countries in the future.
To be eligible for YouTube’s special discounts, you must be enrolled as a full-time student at a Title IV accredited college or university in the United States and must be verified as a student by user-verification system SheerID. The deal isn’t available to students who have previously subscribed to YouTube Red, YouTube Music Premium, YouTube Premium or Google Play Music.
Users can sign up for the YouTube Premium student plan at youtube.com/premium/student and the YouTube Music Premium student plan at youtube.com/musicpremium/student.