YouTube Music Follows Spotify’s Lead With Prepaid Plans For Indian Market

In India, over-the-top media (OTT) music streaming platforms are gaining tremendous popularity, especially among young users. Moreover, the acceptance of these services is even going beyond the so-called digitally-savvy urban users as streaming is attracting a completely new audience in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

In this highly competitive space, Indian players such as Gaana, Saavan, and Wynk, among others are competing with the likes of US-based YouTube, Apple iTunes, and Sweden’s Spotify.

However, in this niche space, factors such as pricing, payment methods, and branding remain the key to uphold the game. And now to take a competitive advantage in one of these factors, Google’s YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium, on Monday, has decided to offer prepaid plans for its services in the country.

In a blog post, Google announced that its users across India will be able to purchase either a one-month or three-month prepaid plan to enjoy YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium benefits.

Earlier, the users had no option but to subscribe for monthly plans through recurring payments by adding credit cards for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. However, now the users can purchase prepaid plans without enrolling in an ongoing subscription using any credit or debit card and Google Play balance.

Moreover, users at any point will also be able to extend their paid benefits by an additional one-month or three-months by purchasing advanced top-ups for their membership.

The launch of the prepaid service option by YouTube can be seen as an attempt by the US-based media streaming platform to come on par with its Sweden-based counterpart, Spotify.

While YouTube has now launched the prepaid payment mode for its services, Spotify which also offers a free advertisement backed plan is already offering the same payment mode for its users in the country.

Besides international players, Indian players are also offering users a way to pay for music streaming services up front or in recurring payments as well.

For its one-month service plan, Times Internet-backed Gaana offers only debit or credit card based recurring payments plan, however, for its annual subscription for both regular and student users, the company offers the prepaid option plan. Interestingly, other players such as JioSaavn and Hungama are yet to offer any recurring payment option plans for its services.