B1StreamingOct 30, 2026By Lockgroove

YouTube Music and Premium pass 150 million subscribers

Alphabet's third-quarter report adds about 25 million subscribers since early 2025, despite price rises, while YouTube's ad growth slows.

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium now have more than 150 million subscribers worldwide, Alphabet said in its third-quarter 2026 results on October 28. The figure includes people on free trials.

The last public number was 125 million in March 2025, counted the same way, so the services have added roughly 25 million subscribers in about 19 months. Alphabet does not say how many of them pay for YouTube Music on its own and how many take YouTube Premium, which bundles music with ad-free video.

On the earnings call, Google's chief business officer Philipp Schindler said YouTube's subscription revenue is now growing faster than its advertising business. YouTube's ad revenue rose 9% to $11.2 billion in the quarter, below analysts' forecasts of about $11.4 billion.

The growth came even after price increases for YouTube's paid tiers. Alphabet's overall revenue was about $128 billion, up 25% year on year.

The Lockgroove take

Half of Spotify's size, but YouTube is not playing the same game

Put this next to yesterday's news: Spotify reported more than 306 million paying subscribers. On paper YouTube is at about half that. But the comparison is uneven in both directions. YouTube's number includes trials, and many of its subscribers are really paying to skip video ads, not to stream albums. On the other hand, YouTube already hosts one of the world's largest free music audiences, so every paid user is one it converted from its own platform.

For artists and labels, the important line is Schindler's: subscriptions are now YouTube's faster-growing business. Subscription money pays rights holders far better per play than ad-supported views. If YouTube keeps shifting its audience toward paid plans, that is quietly good news for music income, even for listeners who never open the YouTube Music app.

Put this on

01
The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star" (The Age of Plastic, 1980)
The first video MTV ever played, and still the best song about one medium swallowing another.
Play on Apple Music
02
Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing" (Brothers in Arms, 1985)
A hit about music television, the YouTube of its day, and the money it made.
Play on Apple Music
03
Queen, "Radio Ga Ga" (The Works, 1984)
Roger Taylor's 1984 worry that video would push radio aside, four decades before video became the radio.
Play on Apple Music

SourcesMusic Business Worldwide Digital Music News TheWrap Android Authority

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