YouTube Music, Premium Now Have Over 3 Crore Paid Subscribers Combined: Sundar Pichai

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium paid subscriber base hit three crore subscribers, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai revealed while announcing the company’s quarterly results. The latest number shows an increment from the two crore paid subscribers announced late last year. Alongside YouTube Music and Premium growth, Pichai mentioned that YouTube TV surpassed the 30 lakh-paid subscribers mark. The television service that was launched in April 2017 with an aim to offer a cord-cutting experience is currently limited to the US market.

Pichai said during Alphabet’s earnings call that there were over 3.5 crore users combined on YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. This includes 50 lakh users on free trials of both services that were launched in India in March last year.

YouTube Music is available at Rs. 99 a month, while YouTube Premium is offered at a monthly charge of Rs. 129. There are also discounts for people opting for family and student plans.

The coronavirus outbreak seems to have significantly helped YouTube grow its paid services in global markets. Pichai underlined that “as a sign of the times,” daily views of guided meditation videos on YouTube were up by 40 percent since March, while DIY face mask tutorials were viewed over a billion times.

“People come to YouTube for entertainment, information, and opportunities to learn something new,” Pichai said.

YouTube isn’t alone in making the most out of the ongoing pandemic. Competing platforms including Amazon Prime Video has also seen a swift growth in the last few months as people are staying indoors with their families and loved ones. Amazon said in its quarterly results that the number of Prime members streaming videos grew 80 percent year-over-year in the third quarter.

“We’ve seen it as a very significant acquisition channel for new Prime members,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said.

Similarly, Spotify, the Sweden-based platform that competes against the likes of YouTube Music and Amazon Prime Music, reported that its paid subscribers grew 27 percent in the third quarter to 11.4 crores from a year earlier.

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