Sophie Blake
Google announced today that the combined paid user base of YouTube Music and YouTube Premium has surpassed 100 million users, marking a substantial increase from the 80 million reported in November 2022. This achievement underscores the continued success and popularity of Google’s premium offerings within the YouTube ecosystem.
Sundar Pichai, during the Q4 2023 earnings call earlier this week, disclosed that Google’s subscription business, inclusive of YouTube’s paid plans, has now crossed an annual revenue of $15 billion.
Philipp Schindler, the company’s chief business officer, emphasized the value premium users bring to YouTube and its partners. According to Schindler, Premium users provide even more value than ad-supported users, boosting earnings for creators, music and media partners, and YouTube itself with each additional Premium sign-up.
YouTube Music was initially launched in 2015, offering a $9.99 per month Red subscription for ad-free viewing and access to Play Music. The Red subscription was rebranded to YouTube Premium in 2018. In the past year, YouTube has taken measures against ad blockers, displaying warnings to users and urging them to disable ad blockers to access videos. The platform has also experimented with enticing users to pay for higher-resolution video viewing and dealt with multiple unskippable ads.
To enhance the Premium version’s appeal, YouTube introduced features such as mini-games and videos with enhanced bitrate. The Premium subscription has expanded to over 100 countries, with an additional 10 countries, including Algeria, Cambodia, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, and Senegal, added in December 2023.
YouTube remains a pivotal part of Google’s business, contributing significantly to its Q4 2023 revenue of $9.2 billion, up from $8 billion in the same period the previous year. As YouTube continues to evolve and expand its premium offerings globally, it solidifies its position as a key player in the digital entertainment landscape.
Comments
Loading…