YouTube crosses 125 million paid subscribers; launches new cheaper Premium Lite plan

Google has taken several steps to boost YouTube's subscription revenue in recent years

YouTube has crossed over 125 million subscribers across YouTube Music and Premium services across the world, the Google-owned video platform announced on March 5, highlighting the rapid pace of its paid subscriber growth.

This figure, which includes trials, is up from 100 million subscribers in January 2024.

"This momentum is critical to our goal of becoming the No. 1 contributor of revenue to the industry, and we won’t stop until we get there," said YouTube’s global head of music Lyor Cohen.

To further accelerate the subscriber growth, YouTube has introduced a new low-cost ad-free pricing tier called 'Premium Lite' in the United States that will enable users to watch most videos ad-free on the platform for $7.99 per month.

"Since launching YouTube Music and Premium, we've focused on giving subscribers a variety of ways to enjoy their favorite content, and Premium Lite is the latest step in that evolution," said Jack Greenberg, Director, Product Management, YouTube Premium.

Through Premium Lite, viewers will be able to watch ad-free videos across various categories like gaming, comedy, cooking or learning. They will however see ads on music content, music videos, and Shorts. Consumers will also not be able to play videos in the background or download them for offline viewing.

"We’ve been testing Premium Lite to make sure we have the right balance of features and benefits for those viewers who want to watch most videos ad-free" Greenberg said.

Cohen said that in the company's early pilots, they saw more Lite members upgrade to YouTube Premium than Premium members downgrade to Premium Lite. YouTube Premium is currently priced at $13.99 in the United States.

In the coming weeks, YouTube plans to expand Premium Lite to Thailand, Germany, and Australia, markets where it initially piloted the pricing plan. The company stated that it also plans to expand this pricing tier to additional countries later this year.

This move is part of Google's push to shore up YouTube's subscription revenue in a bid to diversify beyond advertising.

Over the past year, the video service has hiked the prices of its premium service across several markets including India, while adding a slew of new premium features including smart downloads, more granular playback controls, and high-quality audio, among others.

In October 2023, YouTube also launched a global initiative to crack down on ad blockers, extending the policy to third-party apps in April 2024.

Google typically does not report the overall revenues of YouTube each quarter, instead providing only the platform's advertising sales figures. However, in October 2024, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai mentioned that YouTube's total revenue surpassed $50 billion for the first time over the past four quarters.