YouTube announced today that Music and Premium has 100 million subscribers. It follows Sundar Pichai revealing that Google One was about to reach the same milestone.
This figure (as of January 2024) includes trials, with YouTube touting “20-million-member growth in just over a year.”
In marking the occasion, YouTube goes back to 2015: “…we believed that there was an appetite for a YouTube experience that benefited not only our users, but the creator and artist community as well, and we announced a new subscription service alongside a brand new app, YouTube Music.”
Along the way, we learned a lot, made a few pivots (and even rebranded), expanded our offerings and plans, and made YouTube Music and Premium available in over 100 countries and regions.
It started as YouTube Music Key and then YouTube Red before landing at YouTube Premium, which Google today says “helps maintain a thriving creator and artist community, providing them with an additional source of revenue from subscriptions.” In the US, YouTube Music Premium costs $10.99 per month, while full Premium for videos on the main site is $3 more.
YouTube last month launched subscriptions in 10 more countries and says “more [are] on the horizon in 2024.”
During its Q4 2023 earnings call, the company said “Premium users are delivering more value to our partners and YouTube than even ad-supported users do. On average, each additional Premium sign-up boosts earnings for creators, music and media partners, and YouTube itself.”
On the Music front, YouTube points to recent launches like Samples, Create radio, and Podcasts. YouTube Premium last year saw price increases in the US and abroad.
For comparison, Spotify says it has “226 million subscribers in more than 180 markets” (574 million users overall), while Apple Music last reported 60 million in 2019.
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