Google Cloud doubles key egress rates—streaming bills rise May 2026
The post states that Google Cloud will increase egress pricing effective May 1, 2026 for CDN Interconnect, Direct Peering, and Carrier Peering across North America ($0.04 to $0.08/GiB), Europe ($0.05 to $0.08/GiB), and Asia ($0.06 to $0.085/GiB). It advises customers to review billing reports and update budget projections because the change will appear on May invoices.
Key Takeaways
- Effective May 1, 2026: egress increases for CDN Interconnect, Direct Peering, and Carrier Peering on Google Cloud
- North America: $0.04 → $0.08/GiB (2x); Europe: $0.05 → $0.08/GiB; Asia: $0.06 → $0.085/GiB
- Impacts show up on May invoices, not later in the year—budget forecasts need updating now
- Verify which teams/services are using these paths and estimate per-product margin impact (especially high-volume video delivery)
Why It Matters
For streaming businesses, egress isn’t “cloud spend”—it’s COGS, and price moves like this can swing unit economics overnight. Doubling rates in North America pressures everything from FAST channel margins to live-event profitability, and it will surface fast when the May invoice hits. Expect renewed urgency around multi-CDN strategies, deeper caching/origin shielding, bitrate and ABR optimization, and tougher contract conversations on committed spend. The emerging meme: egress is the new tax—every delivered gigabyte now demands an explicit strategy, not a line item.
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