YouTube Music and Premium surpass 150 million subscribers globally
YouTube Music and Premium have passed 150 million subscribers worldwide, including people using trials, according to Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai. The milestone shows continued growth in YouTube’s paid services, which Alphabet says are expanding faster than its advertising business.
The combined total is up from 125 million in March 2025, adding more than 25 million in about 20 months, or roughly 1.3 million a month on average. Alphabet does not say how many subscribers use Music alone versus Premium, which includes Music alongside ad-free video, background play and downloads. In the third quarter, Google subscriptions, platforms and devices revenue rose 11% year on year to $14.29 billion; YouTube advertising revenue increased 9.2% to $11.21 billion. Spotify reported 306 million Premium subscribers at the end of the same quarter.
In short
- YouTube Music and Premium passed 150 million subscribers, including trials.
- The service added over 25 million since March 2025.
- Alphabet reported $14.29 billion in subscriptions, platforms and devices revenue.
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The case for
The milestone suggests YouTube’s paid services are meeting demand by combining music access with benefits such as ad-free video, background play and downloads. Their reported subscriber growth and rising subscription revenue may indicate that consumers value these options enough to pay, while giving Alphabet a source of income beyond advertising.
The case against
The headline figure offers limited evidence about the services’ individual reach or the strength of paid demand: it combines Music and Premium users and includes people on trials. Growth in subscription revenue also covers other Google products, and the comparison with Spotify is incomplete because the services and reported totals differ.
Explained simply
YouTube Music is a paid music-streaming service, while YouTube Premium is a subscription that removes adverts from videos and adds features such as background play and downloads. Premium also includes access to YouTube Music, so the two services are often reported together.
Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, earns money from both subscriptions and advertising. Subscriber numbers help show how its paid services are growing alongside its advertising business, though the combined figure does not reveal how many people pay for each service separately.
Other music-streaming companies provide a point of comparison: Spotify, for example, reports its Premium subscriber total separately. The figures are not directly equivalent because YouTube’s count combines two services and includes trial users.
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