YouTube is a widely used video sharing platform that offers free and paid subscription services with a variety of features.
YouTube Red was replaced by YouTube Premium in 2014. One of the first questions people ask about this new service is “How many people can use YouTube Premium?”
Much like any streaming platform, people want to know how many users can partake in the subscription and how many devices upon which it can be viewed.
Sometimes, the difference in how many users and how many devices makes a difference in the subscription price.
The following will address YouTube Premium and answer your questions.
How Many People Can Use YouTube Premium?
Let’s just start by mentioning that the Family Plan for YouTube Premium allows up to six total people over the age of 13 to use the service.
Can you use YouTube Premium on multiple devices at the same time?
The Family Plan also allows you to stream on up to four devices simultaneously.
People added to the subscription must live in the same household (same address).
Otherwise, the Individual subscription is for one device at a time for music videos and up to two devices at a time for select movies.
This also includes browsers.
Browsers count as separate devices.
YouTube Premium should not be confused with YouTube TV, which is the platform’s dedicated television streaming service that comes with a significant subscription fee.
Instead, YouTube Premium is taking the place of YouTube Red.
As per the latest data, YouTube Premium has about 23.6 million subscribers and is projected to have 25.5 million in 2022, 2.7 million in 2023, and 27.9 million 2024.
YouTube Premium is available in 95 countries.
How Much Does YouTube Premium Cost?
YouTube Red came with a cost of $9.99 per month, but YouTube Premium comes at a cost of $11.99 per month after a two month free trial period.
The YouTube Family Plan is $17.99 per month, and the Student Plan is $6.99 per month.
If you prefer to pay your subscription annually, you have the option to do that. The Individual annual plan price is $119.99, which is a savings of $23.89 per year over paying for it by the month.
YouTube Premium offers millions of ad-free videos for you to watch. You can download videos and playlists to your mobile to watch videos offline.
This premium subscription also lets you keep playing videos while you are using other mobile apps or even when your screen is off. You have access to all YouTube Original series and movies.
YouTube Premium also includes a subscription to YouTube Music at no extra charge. You can listen to your music on Chromecast Audio and Google Home as well.
YT Premium applies to YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube Kids respectively.
What is the YouTube Premium Timeline?
Before there was YouTube Premium as we know it today, there was YouTube Red. The timeline for YouTube’s subscription video services is as follows.
YouTube Red was a subscription service offered by the platform. It removed ads from all videos across platforms.
Initially, it was called YouTube Music Key and gave access to streaming music without ads.
In late 2015, Google expanded this service to include all videos under the new name of YouTube Red.
YouTube Music Key was launched on November 14, 2014, by October 31, 2015, it was renamed YouTube Red.
The rebranding for YouTube Premium occurred on May 17, 2018.
How Does the YouTube Premium Subscription Plan Work?
As we already mentioned, you will pay $17.99 per month for the Family Plan, which will allow you to add up to five more people to the subscription (six total).
If you’re the account manager, you will need to create a Google Family Group to add your family members.
As you can see, the number of people that can use YouTube Premium relies on your subscription plan.
When setting up the Google Family Group, each member of your group will have their own name, email address, and identifying photo that is shared with the group.
Keep in mind that you can only change the family group once every 12 months. Only the manager can pay for and add or remove family members.
As a new member, you will click on or tap on “Purchases and Membership”.
From there, you will see the dropdown that shows YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium. Here is where you will choose the plan you want.
You will have the option to “save money with a family or student plan” or just continue with the regular subscription.
You will click on “Get Family Plan” where you will see “Try it free” if you’re eligible for the trial.
As long as you’re the manager of the Google Family Group, you will get a dialog box to confirm your family group.
Click “Continue” to make your purchase. At the same time, you will also share your plan with the family group.
If you don’t have a Google Family Group, you will be instructed through the process of creating one after purchasing your subscription.
As we already mentioned, you will pay $17.99 per month for the Family Plan, which will allow you to add up to five more people to the subscription (six total).
If you’re the account manager, you will need to create a Google Family Group to add your family members.
When setting up the Google Family Group, each member of your group will have their own name, email address, and identifying photo that is shared with the group.
Keep in mind that you can only change the family group once every 12 months. Only the manager can pay for and add or remove family members.
As a new member, you will click on or tap on “Purchases and Membership”.
From there, you will see the dropdown that shows YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium. Here is where you will choose the plan you want.
You will have the option to “save money with a family or student plan” or just continue with the regular subscription.
You will click on “Get Family Plan” where you will see “Try it free” if you’re eligible for the trial.
As long as you’re the manager of the Google Family Group, you will get a dialog box to confirm your family group.
Click “Continue” to make your purchase. At the same time, you will also share your plan with the family group.
If you don’t have a Google Family Group, you will be instructed through the process of creating one after purchasing your subscription.
If you are purchasing any other YouTube Premium subscription, just select the one you want and follow the instructions. You won’t need a Google Family Group for any other plan.
What is the Best Feature of YouTube Premium?
As mentioned, the features of YouTube Premium give you ad-free access to millions of YouTube videos, allows you to download videos and playlists for offline viewing, access to all of YouTube’s original series and movies, and YouTube Music Premium.
Which one is the best feature? Since videos, music, and original series and movies are all a matter of preference, the best feature is subject to personal preference.
For some Premium subscribers, access to millions of YT videos without ad interruptions is the best feature.
YouTube has over 2.5 billion active monthly users, of which around 80 million are Premium subscribers. We imagine that several of these subscribers enjoy their ad-free video viewing.
Access to Music Premium is another great feature that music enthusiasts like.
So, these Premium subscribers probably feel that all that music is the best feature of the subscription. If you’re a music lover, this is a feature you will love.
Getting to watch YouTube Original series and movies is yet another great feature included with the YT Premium subscription that could be considered the best to some subscribers.
Some top YouTube Originals include Wayne (a series that got canceled despite its popularity), Impulse (a science fiction drama), Best Shot (a basketball documentary), and Sherwood (animated show).
Since originals across streaming platforms are popular due to their mostly original and engaging content, it makes sense that people would feel that this content is the best on YouTube Premium.
Besides the different content options, there are also other features to enjoy on YouTube Premium.
Wherever YouTube premium is available, anyone can enjoy its features.
Being able to download videos and music to your device for offline viewing and listening, playing them in the background as you do other things on your device, and being able to listen to your music on Chromecast Audio and through Google Home are all the best features you can get from such a service.
Perhaps one of these features would be the best for some subscribers. If you had to choose one favorite of all three of these content types, which would be your favorite?
How Much Has YouTube Premium Grown?
Statistics show the growth over a period of years, which reveals the growth in popularity of this service. Let’s take a look.
In 2020, 20 million YouTube users were paying for the premium service. By 2021, the Premium subscriber base grew by 3.6 million for a total of 23.6 million subscribers.
The total expected by the end of 2022, is 25.5 million subscribers, 26.7 by 2023, and 27.9 by 2024. These figures show a growth of almost 8 million projected new subscribers over 2020 figures.
We did share this data earlier in the article, but in a different context. Here, we are showing the growth since 2020.
Now that you have seen how much it’s grown, what do you think about YouTube Premium for yourself or for you and your family?
Does YouTube Premium Help YouTubers?
You might be wondering if subscribing to YT Premium will impact YouTubers that create and upload videos.
Normally, YouTubers get a share of the ad revenue for the ads that are shown on their videos.
How does that work with premium subscriptions? Do YouTuber lose revenue from that? You will be happy to know that your favorite YouTubers won’t lose any revenue if you subscribe to YouTube’s premium services.
That’s because as part of the YouTube Partner Program, they still get paid their share of the revenue YouTube gets from subscribers. You will actually be helping them.
So, if you thought that you would be hurting your favorite YouTube channels by subscribing to YouTube Premium, you can relax because you’re not.
Conclusion
If you ever wondered about how many people can use YouTube Premium at the same time, now you have the facts and figures.
The Individual and Student accounts allow you to stream on up to two devices at a time for a single user.
For the Family Plan, you can stream on up to four devices at the same time between six total people.
You have all the information you need about YouTube Premium to decide if this service is something you would like or not.
You have information about the features that are included with this subscription.
So, you know if you don’t like YouTube ads, this subscription allows you to watch millions of videos on the platform with no ads.
You know you get access to YouTube Original series and movies, which is an attractive feature.
With a two month free trial and $11.99 per month thereafter, it may be worth checking out. If you’re not using cable anymore, this could be a great solution.
Getting to watch on a variety of devices is a nice touch.
If you have a Premium account, you can watch YouTube content on streaming devices like Roku as well as your desktop or mobile device.
Remember, you can only use two devices at the same time for the Individual subscription.
Hopefully we have answered all the questions you would ask about YouTube Premium.
Sources
| Statista | The Shared Web | YouTube Help |
| YouTube Help | YouTube Help |
