More than 100 million people have signed up for YouTube Music and Premium, the video platform said on Thursday.
The service is now available in more than 100 countries, said Adam Smith, vice president of product management for YouTube, in a blog post.
The milestone underscores the momentum of YouTube, which is the largest streaming platform in the U.S., far exceeding Netflix and other rivals. While a vast majority of the viewership still watches the experience with ads, the figure shows many customers are willing to pay a premium to get rid of the ads and get access to offline downloads. The service, which launched in 2015, got a shot in the arm when YouTube integrated the main Premium service with YouTube Music, complete with its own new app.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, has increasingly grown its subscription business, which CEO Sundar Pichai said on Tuesday equates to a $15 billion annual revenue business. He noted at the time that YouTube Music and Premium have shown “real momentum.”
Smith on Thursday touted the progress of the services, including the addition of features like the ability to watch content in enhanced 1080p HD and new generative AI experiments.
Lyor Cohen, global head of YouTube’s music business, touted the new experience of the YouTube Music app, which is “unrecognizable from its first launch.” Cohen also touted new features like the ability to build your own radio station, or the use of generative AI to create unique cover art for your playlists.