Google"s paid YouTube subscription services have now reached a new milestone. Today, the company revealed that the total combined worldwide subscription numbers for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium have reached the 100 million mark across 100 countries.
There is a bit of an asterisk to that total, as the blog post announcing the 100 million number stated it does include people who have signed up for the free trials for those services. The announcement did not break down the specifics of how many subscribers have signed up for each service.
In a separate blog post, Lyor Cohen, the head of music at YouTube, added that the Music and Premium services have increased by 20 million users just in the past year. He added:
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:
YouTube Music currently costs $10.99 a month with a 30-day free trial. It offers ad-free access to 100 million songs, along with background play and music videos. YouTube Premium costs $13.99 a month, again with a free 30-day trial. It includes all the features of YouTube Music, plus ad-free viewing of any YouTube video, movie, and TV show. It also supports video downloads for offline use and background play of videos while you use other mobile apps.
In the past year, both services have added some improvements for subscribers. YouTube Premium members on desktop and notebook PCs can now access the 1080p Premium setting for videos, which shows them at a higher bit rate than the normal 1080p videos.
YouTube Music subscribers can also check out a recently added experimental feature that creates custom artwork for their playlist via a generative AI model.