Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
YouTube’s Music and Premium services added 30 million paid global subscribers over the course of about one year, bringing its total to 80 million. This marks a major jump from the 50 million subscribers YouTube reported last September as more users look to gain access to the perks that come with either service.
These new numbers indicate that YouTube Music and Premium are growing even faster this year than the last. In last year’s report, YouTube said it added 20 million subscribers across both its services in just one year. Google doesn’t break down its numbers in either report, so it’s not clear what features users are subscribing for and how many subscribers each individual service has. It also includes those on free trials, which muddies the numbers up even more.
YouTube Premium, which costs $11.99 per month, provides a number of perks, including ad-free videos, background play, and offline downloads. It also offers bundled access to YouTube Music and YouTube Kids. The $9.99 per month YouTube Music subscription, meanwhile, just gives you access to a library of music you can stream. It doesn’t come with access to YouTube Premium, but it still supports offline listening and lets you listen to music when your phone’s locked.
It’s hard to tell how YouTube Music stacks up to other music streaming services, as we don’t know how many subscribers are split across YouTube’s two services, and Apple Music and Amazon Music are equally as tight-lipped. But a recent estimate from research firm Midia suggests that Apple might have 78.6 million subscribers, with Amazon Music and the China-exclusive Tencent Music trailing behind at about 68.1 million. Meanwhile, Spotify revealed that it reached 188 million paid subscribers in July.