YouTube’s premium membership was launched in 2014 and has been available in a few select countries. Today, the company has expanded to more, including Nigeria, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Venezuela.
By entering these new four markets, YouTube Premium now covers 80 different nations around the globe. In Africa, YouTube Premium was only available in South Africa, one of the continent’s biggest internet markets.
YouTube Premium pricing remains the same – at $12 – and subscribing members get a few perks as a result. Part of the benefits include Ad-free streaming, saving video offline and background play, even when the screen is locked on mobile.
Besides, premium subscribers also get free access to YouTube Music, the company’s music streaming platform, which includes offline downloading as well.
Before the changes introduced last year, YouTube Premium also allowed users to stream entire YouTube Original shows ad-free. But currently, anyone can access the entire shows but with ads. That means having a premium subscription allows you to binge the likes of Cobra Kai without ad interruption.
If Google follows the same guidelines, Kenya could be the next country to have access to YouTube Premium, but that will depend if you will want to pay roughly Ksh 1200 for it. In comparison, Netflix recently changed its billing model to support local currency which makes it cheaper – only Ksh 700 for the basic package.
