With a total of 100 million subscribers, YouTube’s figures continue to lag behind those of Netflix (260.8 million subscribers).
Everyone gets the banner when they enter YouTube: “Try one month of YouTube Premium for free”. And we all skip this tab to continue using the app for free… or not? The latest data reveals otherwise.
YouTube reached an important milestone on Thursday, reaching over 100 million paid music and video subscribers worldwide.
This figure includes trial subscriptions, so the actual number of paid subscribers is lower. YouTube subscription levels have been one of the main revenue generators for Google’s subscription services, which reached $15 billion in revenue (including YouTube TV and Google One) in 2023.
A bet that has paid off well in a subscription era
Approximately nine years ago, YouTube launched a paid subscription service without ads and later decided to split YouTube Red into YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium.
- YouTube Music is the streaming music service from the company: the ad-free Premium level costs $10.99 per month.
- YouTube Premium, $13.99 per month, includes Music Premium and also removes ads from YouTube, unlocks higher quality streaming, and allows background playback and downloads.
The company’s subscriber count does not distinguish between the two levels, making it difficult to know how many people are actually using YouTube Music compared to other music platforms like Apple Music and Spotify, and how many are paying more for YouTube Premium.
With a total of 100 million subscribers, YouTube’s numbers still lag behind those of Netflix (260.8 million subscribers) and Spotify (226 million paid subscribers).
It is more comparable to Disney Plus, which surpassed 150 million paid subscribers last year. But YouTube Premium should not really be considered a competitor to other premium streaming services, especially considering its quite varied offering.
That is why, the main source of income for YouTube continues to be advertising, not subscriptions. But 100 million is not bad at all, and the constant growth of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music means that they will play an important role in the future of YouTube.
Author: Chema Carvajal Sarabia
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