Sharing Your YouTube Premium Plan? Your Service Could Be Paused

This popular bypass solution to share a premium YouTube family plan with friends and parents in different houses is now squarely in Google Crosshairs. A new wave of application has started, subscribers noting that they have received emails warning that access to their account will be suspended. The ultimatum is clear: confirm that all members live at the same address within 15 days or lose your premium advantages. And now, that’s something you should watch, you plan to broadcast videos or listen to music with advertisements, which you can always do if the service is on a break.

Although the same “same household” requirement has always been in the conditions of service, this recent repression indicates a major passage from passive policy to active practice. For anyone who knows the opinion, the consequence is a rapid demotion in terms of YouTube advertising, a change of discrepancy for those used for visualization without advertising and offline downloads.

Do not miss any of our impartial technological content and laboratory criticism. Add CNET as a favorite Google source on Chrome.

A YouTube spokesman told Cnet: “Our family plan policy has not changed and we are continuously applied it. You can know more about the youtube family plan here.”

On his assistance page, YouTube says that an account manager can complement five family members in a household in his premium subscription. But, the post says: “family members sharing a YouTube family plan must live in the same household as the family director.” Groups can only be changed once every 12 months.

YouTube tested a plan for two houses that would give a discount to those who want to share, but this plan is not yet available in the United States.

YouTube offers a one -month trial for his bonus and music accounts, which cost $ 23 per month.

Roofed Subscription Subscription

YouTube joins other paid services that have started to apply policies to reduce the sharing of premium services.

Disney Plus and Netflix was among the services that started to discourage, then block or actively restrict the accounts they find share passwords. Max joined them this year, presenting costs of $ 8 for those who wish to share their account with another person.

Likewise, Amazon puts an end to a program that has made it possible to share its first -rate service, demanding that those who do not live in the same residence use their own paid first -rate accounts for the packages to be shipped for free. The Amazon invitation service sharing program ends on October 1.

The application is supposed to help recover the income that these companies say they lose when people use someone else’s premium account instead of paying for theirs.

“It is not difficult to understand why streaming services feel the need to repress. After all, the income to be spent on new content or improved experience must come from somewhere,” explains Carl Lepper, main director of technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) at JD Power.

“The calculation of streaming companies seems to be that the limitation of password sharing and access to accounts will lead more subscribers.

Does it work in the long term? Lepper says to CNET that companies must balance the application of their policies without “checking” existing customers or refusing potential customers to have the chance to see what their service has to offer and potentially convert to their own account.

The application itself is not free, he underlines. “The streamers themselves must spend time and resources to apply such a policy,” said Lepper.