YouTube Music and Premium have crossed 150 million subscribers worldwide, though that count also covers free trials. Google boss Sundar Pichai shared the milestone in Alphabet's latest earnings update, marking a gain of over 25 million accounts from the prior 125 million tally.
But subscriber growth has eased a bit. The service averaged about 1.3 million net additions per month during its latest stretch, down from roughly 2 million during the earlier climb from 100 million.
One catch with those figures is that Alphabet does not split music-only users from full Premium members. That leaves the exact size of YouTube's paid music audience unclear, especially with trial accounts mixed into the total.
Full Premium comes with video playback free from ads, downloads, background listening, and access to the music service. Premium Lite gives viewers another paid option, while the company keeps adding features to attract subscribers.
And Google executives seem pleased with how that plan is working. Business chief Philipp Schindler said paid services were expanding faster than ads, while YouTube Music and Premium helped lead that trend.
The money figures back up part of that growth. Alphabet's subscriptions, platforms, and devices unit brought in $14.29 billion, a rise of 11% from $12.87 billion. YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket, Google One, Google Play, and hardware also feed into that total.
Still, growth in that wider unit has slowed from earlier rates of 15% and 19%. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi pointed to strong demand for YouTube's paid plans and Google's AI subscriptions as key sources of revenue.
Advertising had a good run as well. YouTube made $11.21 billion from ads, up 9.2% from $10.26 billion. Big-screen viewing played a major part, with living room devices bringing in more than one-third of its ad income.
Neal Mohan, YouTube's CEO, also marked the new subscriber total and said the platform aims to give viewers more choice while creating value for creators and business partners.
Meanwhile, American users have faced higher subscription fees. The standard Premium plan went from $13.99 to $15.99 a month, while Music's individual tier rose from $10.99 to $11.99.
Those price changes hit new members first, with existing subscribers moved across in a later billing cycle. Higher fees may help revenue, but the subscriber figures alone do not show how much of the growth came from price changes.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube's music chief, has set an even bigger goal for the business. He wants the platform to become the largest source of industry revenue, making subscription growth a key part of that plan.
Spotify remains ahead on its reported Premium subscriber count, with 306 million paying members after gaining another 6 million. It also expects that figure to reach 316 million, though that remains a forecast.
Across Alphabet, total revenue reached $127.6 billion, an increase of 25%. That gave the Google parent another quarter of double-digit growth.
But subscriber growth has eased a bit. The service averaged about 1.3 million net additions per month during its latest stretch, down from roughly 2 million during the earlier climb from 100 million.
One catch with those figures is that Alphabet does not split music-only users from full Premium members. That leaves the exact size of YouTube's paid music audience unclear, especially with trial accounts mixed into the total.
Full Premium comes with video playback free from ads, downloads, background listening, and access to the music service. Premium Lite gives viewers another paid option, while the company keeps adding features to attract subscribers.
And Google executives seem pleased with how that plan is working. Business chief Philipp Schindler said paid services were expanding faster than ads, while YouTube Music and Premium helped lead that trend.
The money figures back up part of that growth. Alphabet's subscriptions, platforms, and devices unit brought in $14.29 billion, a rise of 11% from $12.87 billion. YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket, Google One, Google Play, and hardware also feed into that total.
Still, growth in that wider unit has slowed from earlier rates of 15% and 19%. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi pointed to strong demand for YouTube's paid plans and Google's AI subscriptions as key sources of revenue.
Advertising had a good run as well. YouTube made $11.21 billion from ads, up 9.2% from $10.26 billion. Big-screen viewing played a major part, with living room devices bringing in more than one-third of its ad income.
Neal Mohan, YouTube's CEO, also marked the new subscriber total and said the platform aims to give viewers more choice while creating value for creators and business partners.
Meanwhile, American users have faced higher subscription fees. The standard Premium plan went from $13.99 to $15.99 a month, while Music's individual tier rose from $10.99 to $11.99.
Those price changes hit new members first, with existing subscribers moved across in a later billing cycle. Higher fees may help revenue, but the subscriber figures alone do not show how much of the growth came from price changes.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube's music chief, has set an even bigger goal for the business. He wants the platform to become the largest source of industry revenue, making subscription growth a key part of that plan.
Spotify remains ahead on its reported Premium subscriber count, with 306 million paying members after gaining another 6 million. It also expects that figure to reach 316 million, though that remains a forecast.
Across Alphabet, total revenue reached $127.6 billion, an increase of 25%. That gave the Google parent another quarter of double-digit growth.
