YouTube is once again at the center of controversy, this time over reports of unusually long unskippable ads. Many users claimed they were seeing ads lasting up to 90 seconds, especially on smart TVs and connected devices.
These reports quickly spread across social media, with users expressing frustration over the changing viewing experience. The issue raised concerns about whether YouTube was testing longer ad formats without informing users.
YouTube has quietly rolled out a price hike for its Premium subscription in the United States, while TV viewers have simultaneously started reporting ad blocks that run for nearly two full minutes before they can skip. Separately, each of these changes would be annoying.
Together, they’ve triggered a wave of frustration across social media, Reddit threads, and comment sections — and a fair number of subscription cancellations. Here’s a breakdown of what’s actually changed, what YouTube is saying about it, and why the issue matters beyond just your monthly bill.
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YouTube Premium Just Got More Expensive
On April 10, 2026, YouTube began sending emails to existing subscribers notifying them of upcoming price increases. There was no public announcement, no press release, no fanfare. Just a quiet email and a higher number on your next invoice.
The new pricing in the US breaks down like this: the individual plan has gone from $13.99 to $15.99 per month. The family plan, which covers up to six accounts, now costs $26.99, up from $22.99. The annual subscription has jumped from $139.99 to $159.99. And even the lighter Premium Lite plan, which was introduced as a budget-friendly option, has moved from $7.99 to $8.99 a month.
For anyone accessing YouTube through Apple devices, the situation is a little worse. The App Store adds its own fee on top, pushing the individual plan to around $20.99 per month for iPhone and iPad users.
The new pricing kicks in on the next billing cycle, with some subscribers seeing the change as early as May 16, 2026.
What’s the Official Reason?
In the emails sent to subscribers, YouTube’s stated explanation is that the increase is needed to “continue delivering great service and features, improve Premium, and support the creators and artists you watch.” The company also cited keeping up with market changes, inflation, and local taxes.
That’s a fairly standard line that most subscription services use when they raise prices, and it doesn’t tell users much about what, if anything, is actually changing in their experience. Noticeably, there is no new feature, no added benefit, and no specific improvement announced alongside the price hike. You’re simply paying more for what you already had.
Many subscribers noticed this immediately, and the reaction on social media has been sharp. One user put it plainly: “They make the free experience worse with ads, then jack up Premium prices at the same time.” That sentiment has been echoed thousands of times over.
Meanwhile, TV Users Are Sitting Through Nearly Two Minutes of Ads
At around the same time as the price increase news broke, a separate complaint started gaining traction online. YouTube viewers watching on smart TVs, Google TV devices, and streaming sticks began reporting ad blocks that ran for 90 seconds or more before any skip option appeared.
These weren’t single long ads — they were multiple 15 to 30-second ads stacked back-to-back into one continuous unskippable block. Users on Samsung TVs and similar devices were among the most vocal, and the complaints flooded Reddit and other platforms.
This kind of format is clearly designed to mimic the commercial breaks you’d see on traditional cable television. YouTube appears to be experimenting with what are called Connected TV (CTV) ad formats — longer, more impactful ad slots that give brands a more TV-like environment for their campaigns, with the added advantage of digital targeting.
Google had already previewed a 30-second Connected TV-only pre-roll ad format back in March 2026. But what users were experiencing in April seemed to go well beyond that.
YouTube’s Response: “We Don’t Have a 90-Second Format”
Here’s where things get a bit murky. When the complaints started spreading, YouTube’s official account posted on X stating clearly that they do not have a 90-second ad format.
However, the user reports are widespread and consistent enough that a simple denial doesn’t fully satisfy. A separate report from The Logical Indian noted that YouTube later acknowledged the extended ad durations were the result of a bug rather than an intentional rollout — which is a different kind of admission altogether. A bug that thousands of users experienced, at the same time that YouTube was rolling out new CTV ad formats, is at minimum a significant coincidence.
Whether it was a deliberate test, a bug, or some middle ground — the experience for users watching on TV screens was the same: sit through nearly two minutes of ads or walk away from what you were trying to watch.
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Is This About Revenue Pressure?
If you step back and look at the bigger picture, it’s hard not to see a platform feeling the squeeze.
YouTube’s advertising business is enormous — estimated to have generated well over $40 billion in the last full year, which is larger than the combined ad revenue of Disney, NBC, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Total YouTube revenue, ads and subscriptions combined, topped $60 billion in 2025. By any measure, that’s a wildly successful business.
But the final quarter of 2025 missed expectations. Growth slowed. Political ad spending, which had boosted earlier quarters, fell off significantly. And the cost side of the ledger is growing fast — YouTube is estimated to be spending around $185 billion in 2026 on AI infrastructure and capital expenditure, as competition from other streaming platforms continues to intensify.
In this context, the dual move — higher subscription prices and more aggressive ad formats — makes a certain kind of business sense, even if it doesn’t make users happy. Subscription revenue is more stable and predictable than ad revenue, so there’s an obvious incentive to push free viewers toward paying plans. And if the free experience becomes painful enough, some people will pay to escape it.
This pattern even has a name now. Tech observers have started calling it “enshittification” — the gradual, deliberate worsening of a free product to push users toward paid tiers or to extract more value from advertisers.
What Can You Actually Do About It?
The reality is that for most users, YouTube is close to unavoidable. It hosts more video content than any other platform on earth, and a huge portion of the creators people follow are YouTube-exclusive.
That said, the price hike and ad changes have renewed interest in alternatives. Ad blocker usage is reportedly rising again, despite YouTube’s ongoing crackdown on third-party blockers. Some users are looking at alternative front-end apps and clients that strip ads from the experience. Others are simply reducing how much they watch on TV screens specifically.
For people who genuinely use YouTube frequently and find Premium worth it, the new pricing isn’t outrageous in absolute terms — $15.99 a month for ad-free viewing, background play, and YouTube Music is still competitive with other streaming services. The frustration is more about how the change was handled: quietly, without explanation, and without any accompanying improvement to justify the cost.