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Journalism of Courage
YouTube announced this week that its premium music and video streaming services, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, have surpassed 100 million subscribers globally. This major growth milestone comes less than three years after YouTube reported 50 million paid users in 2021.
In an open letter, Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube, said the company is “delighted and humbled” by reaching over 100 million subscribers across both platforms. Cohen highlighted YouTube’s commitment to enhancing the user experience, expanding catalog offerings, and providing creators with additional revenue streams.
“In 2015, many doubted a subscription model could thrive on YouTube. They said the market was crowded and our platform was too different. Today – 100 million subscribers later – our distinctiveness is precisely what drives our success and why I still see so much room for growth,” he added.
YouTube Premium, which offers an ad-free viewing experience across YouTube, background play on mobile, and offline downloads, was first launched in 2018. Since then, YouTube has focused on rolling out new features to make the tier more tempting.
The growth to over 100 million paying subscribers signifies YouTube’s position as a top contender in the highly competitive streaming market. However, it still trails behind segment leader Spotify, which reported 226 million premium subscribers in Q3 2022. Meanwhile, Apple, which rarely shares updates on subscriber numbers, was estimated to touch 110 million subscribers in 2025 by J.P. Morgan.
YouTube’s twin premium services have become an increasingly important part of parent company Alphabet’s business. Not only do they provide critical recurring revenue, but Premium helps foster a thriving creator ecosystem by offering another monetisation channel beyond ads.
The platform’s ability to leverage its massive free user base of over 2 billion monthly active users also gives it an inherent advantage in converting viewers and listeners to paid memberships. Add to that the fact that the company has been increasingly pushing users to cross the premium wall with unskippable ads and artificial slowdowns when using ad blockers.
