YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium will now be available to users in India under new prepaid plans.
YouTube Premium came to India in March, along with YouTube Music. It brought ad-free streaming, background playback, offline availability of videos and access to YouTube originals, all for a starting price of Rs 129 a month for Premium, and Rs 99 a month for Music Premium.
Google India announced today that these services can now be purchased with new prepaid plans. These plans are available in a one-month or a three-month configuration and can be activated to get all the benefits of the paid subscription. If a user wants to extend his/her subscription, additional top-up packs of 1 or 3 months can also be purchased.
Earlier, if a user wanted to access these paid services, they would have to purchase the Premium subscription, and then pay recurring amounts at regular intervals to continue enjoying these services. The prepaid options will be prompted when someone decides to go ahead with YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium payment.
Notably, the prepaid plan for a month is priced at Rs 139, which is just Rs 10 more than the conventional subscription model and does away with the need for a credit card and monthly billing.
Google expects these new payment plans will offer more flexibility to the Indian market, thus increasing its user base. Music subscribers are also offered an option to upgrade to YouTube Premium.
