Google parent Alphabet has surpassed 300 million paid subscriptions, led by growth in Google One and YouTube Premium, chief executive Sundar Pichai said on October 29, highlighting new money-spinners for the search giant as it aims to diversify beyond advertising.
This figure is up from 270 million paid subscriptions in April 2025. Alphabet did not disclose a detailed breakdown of the subscription figures, but it stated in May that Google One had surpassed 150 million subscribers globally, and YouTube announced in March that it had crossed 125 million subscribers worldwide across its Music and Premium services.
Google's diversifying revenue streams
Google's revenues from its subscription, platforms, and device businesses increased by 20.8 percent to $12.9 billion for the quarter ended September 2025. The company doesn't break out its subscriptions revenues.
"As we scale, we are diversifying revenue. Today, 13 product lines are each at an annual run rate over $1 billion. And we are improving operating margin with highly differentiated products built with our own technology," Pichai said during the company's Q3 earnings call.
These remarks came as Alphabet posted its first-ever $100 billion quarter, reporting consolidated revenue of $102.3 billion for the three months ended September, up 16 percent year-on-year (YoY). The growth was driven by double-digit gains in Google Search, YouTube ads, Google subscriptions, platforms and devices, and Google Cloud.
Google's new subscription offerings
Over the past couple of years, Google has ramped up its focus on scaling up its subscription revenues by introducing a range of subscription offerings that provide access to premium features and tools across several markets.
This includes the low-cost YouTube Premium Lite that enables viewers to watch ad-free videos in certain categories such as gaming, comedy, cooking or learning. The tier was introduced in India last month for Rs 89 per month.
In May, Moneycontrol reported that YouTube is also piloting a new subscription tier with select users in India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong that lets them share their Premium or Music Premium membership with another household member.
Google One has also introduced new subscription tiers that offer access to the company’s AI products and tools, including a lower-cost plan called Google AI Plus and a premium option called Google AI Ultra.
These moves also help the tech giant monetise its AI offerings at a time when investors are closely watching how major technology companies are turning their multibillion-dollar AI investments into profits.
AI Capex increase
Alphabet stated that it will raise its capital expenditures to between $91 billion and $93 billion for 2025, up from its July forecast of $85 billion. The increase is driven by growth across its businesses and rising demand from Cloud customers.
"Five years ago our quarterly revenue was at $50 billion. Our revenue number has doubled since then, and we’re firmly in the generative AI era. In parallel, we’ve built for the long term and diversified, with successful businesses in Cloud, YouTube and subscriptions," Pichai said.
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