Google Claims Youtube Premium And Music Now Have 50 Million Users

It is not known exactly how many people subscribe to YouTube Music or Premium. Photo: shatov/unsplash)

JAKARTA - Google has announced that it has 50 million users who subscribe to or try YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. This is a marked increase from the 30 million subscribers reported in December 2020.

This data seems to mark a continued trend in people wanting to jump off the free versions of YouTube and YouTube Music. Even as more services compete in space.

Google did not elaborate further on the 50 million figure. It is not known exactly how many people subscribe to YouTube Music or Premium. How many use the free trial of the service for one month. However, his blog posts spend a lot of time talking about music, praising YouTube as the fastest-growing music subscription service.

Variety also compared Google's numbers to other streaming services. It reports that Spotify has about 165 million subscribers, and the Financial Times cites an estimate that Apple Music has 78 million. Officially it was in June 2019 Apple said its service had passed 60 million subscribers.

YouTube Music Premium costs $9.99 per month and allows users to listen to and download music ad-free. YouTube Premium costs $11.99 per month and gives subscribers access to all the benefits of YouTube Music, with the ability to download and watch regular videos ad-free.

Premium subscribers can also play videos in the background while they are using other apps or their phone is locked. For those who spend a lot of time watching non-music content on the platform, it is a much better experience for less money.

Google hasn't commented on what led to the 20 million subscriber increase, but it might be worth remembering that last year's tally was reported to be just as Google shut down its Play Music service. It's hard to know how many people are subscribed, but Google Play and YouTube Music reportedly had 15 million subscribers combined in 2019.

Without knowing the details, it's hard to say exactly what these numbers mean for Google. Are more people interested in letting videos play in the background without ads, or are they looking for alternatives or additions to Spotify and Apple Music?

Taking a step back, it's clear that more people are at least interested in YouTube's paid offerings. While there are many acknowledged and justified complaints about the influx of video and audio streaming services, it seems that there is still room for growth, if Google is an example.