YouTube TV

TLDR: A long opinion and assessment on the value of a premium YouTube TV subscription vs the combined cost of multiple other services offering the same shows for less than the cost of a month of YouTube.

I included a list of all our paid household streaming services in addition to YouTube TV and explained why we chose to cancel. If you’re on the fence, read on…

I know I just posted my little rant but for those of you considering paying $80 a month for the basic services plus the additional 5-9 per premium ad one you possibly want I just want to offer a suggestion.

In our house in addition to YouTube TV which I just canceled and will expire this Wednesday, we also subscribe to the following paid streaming services plus some of the free with ads ones.

Combined, all of the monthly fees excluding Amazon Prime since we get this with the annual prime subscription are cheaper than what we were paying for one month YouTube TV. If you include the annual prime fee divided by 12 (since the annual cost is only slightly higher than the YouTube tv monthly one) we might be closer to $100 but still.

Of all the services listed below, only a couple of the paid ones make us watch OCCASIONAL sponsored ads. When they do have them they usually don’t last more than a minute or two which are Amazon and Hulu. And the only reason I have to watch them on Hulu is because technically I get it free through another paid service.

Paid

1. Netflix

2. Hulu which I have for free through a premium Spotify subscription (no longer offered but I’m grandfathered in)

3. Disney +

4. Apple TV

5. Amazon Prime

6. Max

Free

1. Tubi

2. Regular You Tube

If we didn’t have all these services we pay premium subscriptions for I would have no idea how much YouTube TV is milking the system to create additional revenue for themselves and their ad partners. At a little over $80 a month why would anyone continue with their cable streaming when none of the shows available for the basic package are exclusive to YouTube.

Plus if you want to watch anything on premium channels you have to individually pay for them as ad ons to the base package. Granted the add on subscriptions to premium channels within YouTube TV are a little less than the monthly fee for the service it runs on it defeats the purpose of trying to save a few dollars when you’re already paying for a base package in order to be able to get those channels.

Knowing what I pay for the services that also have those shows available with the premium subscriptions I’ve realized that the product isn’t worth the value. For example we pay around $12 a month I think for Max which is $9 as a premium add on for you tube TV but you can’t get premium add ons unless you’re already paying the $80 per month for the basic services.

I’d rather pay for max directly (or whatever service you prefer to insert) and have no ads for a premium subscription than pay for YouTube tv, plus the premium channel and still have to watch 15 minutes of mandatory ads for a 45 minute show. And god forbid you need to rewind. You’re watching those ads twice.

The way they’re explaining the situation really made me feel like they’re taking advantage of customers who don’t know better because they don’t have a comparison or think this is normal. If you want to generate revenue from sponsored ads then offer a free product with an optional paid service and make free users watch the ads like every other company offering tv streaming.

Starting on December 12, 2024 for new users and January 13 for most existing users, the cost of a new YouTube TV base plan subscription is increasing from $72.99 to $82.99. Existing trials and promotional rates will not be affected.

Edit: Answer "Yes" if you've canceled today or plan on canceling this month.