Youtube is the most popular online video sharing and social media platform today. The platform offers an ad-supported video viewing experience for regular users, and an ad-free video and Youtube Music experience for Youtube Premium members. The number of subscribers of the highly popular Youtube Premium service has emerged.
What is the number of Youtube Premium subscribers?
Immediately after Google’s “One” subscription plan, which reached 100 million users, YouTube also reached this major milestone. 100 million people are now paying for Premium and YouTube Music. That’s a pretty big win for the company. YouTube Premium’s subscription data was not included in the earnings release three days ago.
It’s hard to know what exactly is driving these subscriptions. But it’s not hard to guess. Premium gives you both ad-free YouTube videos and YouTube Music. So it’s not hard to imagine people subscribing to YouTube Premium for one of these.
Google has increased pressure on users who use ad blocking programs by blocking video playback and displaying pop-ups. After warning users that ad blockers violate YouTube’s terms of service, the pop-ups display a large “Try YouTube Premium” button. Premium also added an exclusive 1080p “enhanced bitrate” setting for its subscribers.
There are not many innovations on the Music side. YouTube Music is free with ads and more limited features. But when you subscribe, you get ad-free playback, background playback on phones, and access to YouTube Music streaming through Google’s various speakers.
If you’re a Spotify or similar app customer and don’t want Google’s music offering, the company has no plans for you. Google had a music-free “YouTube Premium Lite” subscription plan that was only available in Europe from 2021 to 2023. But the company canceled this plan a few months ago.
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