Quick Answer
How many people use YouTube Premium in 2025?
As of the latest count, the platform boasts 80 million subscribers.
Working out, singing in the shower, making a meal prep – no one wants their videos interrupted.
Sadly, YouTube is an ad revenue-based business and occasional advertisement runs can’t be prevented.
This is why YouTube’s paywall version has become an instant hit.
How many people use YouTube premium today?
The answer to this and other interesting facts about the platform will be included in this article.
YouTube Premium Users: How Many People Use YouTube Premium in 2025?
Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room: how many users does YouTube Premium have?
YouTube’s paywall service hit 80 million subscribers before the end of 2022.
This number includes recurring clients and one-month free trial takers.
A Brief History of YouTube Premium
Despite that its current subscriber count seems a lot, YouTube Premium was not an instant success.
Initially launched as Music Key in 2014, the premium service only had a limited number of subscribers during its debut year.
It was then relaunched to YouTube Red by the last quarter of 2015 in an attempt to save the business.
But even then, the premium service only generated 1.5 million subscribers for its full year in the market.
YouTube Premium Users Over the Years
Take a look at this data about how many people used YouTube Premium from 2015 to 2022.
It can be observed that the platform started generating massive growth during the pandemic in 2020.
This comes as consumers sought new ways of entertainment while confined in the comforts of their homes.
We all just wanted to kill boredom during that time.
- 2015 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 1.5 million during this period
- 2016 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 3.0 million during this period
- 2017 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 2.8 million during this period
- 2018 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 10 million during this period
- 2019 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 18 million during this period
- 2020 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 30 million during this period
- 2021 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 50 million during this period
- 2022 – YouTube Premium’s number of annual subscribers was 80 million during this period
YouTube Premium Users in the United States
How many people use YouTube Premium in the United States?
What is the projected number for 2023 and 2024? The answer to this will come right up.
- 2020 – there were 20 million YouTube Premium annual subscribers in the United States during the year
- 2021 – there were 23.6 million YouTube Premium annual subscribers in the United States during the year
- 2022 – there were 25.5 million YouTube Premium annual subscribers in the United States during the year
Projections for 2023 and 2024
- 2023 – there is an expected 26.7 million YouTube Premium annual subscribers in the United States during the year
- 2024 – there is an expected 27.9 million YouTube Premium annual subscribers in the United States during the year
YouTube Premium Benefits
YouTube Premium is not just about ad-free music. There is so much more to it. Let’s break down its number of benefits according to YouTube Help.
1. Watch YouTube Videos Uninterrupted
This may seem like a no-brainer piece of information, but you will never realize the benefits until you realize that there are an average of two advertisements in every YouTube video.
The number can go as high as 10 for more popular channels.
2. Offline Downloading
Who does not want to have their favorite videos handy even when they are in the middle of a desert where the internet is not a thing.
YouTube Premium allows subscribers to store offline videos as much as they like, as long as the storage can handle them.
3. Background Play
It sucks when videos stop playing when we close the app to check on an Instagram DM. Do you feel me?
YouTube, you can’t do us injustice like that. With Premium, videos still play in the background regardless if other apps are opened.
4. YouTube Originals
YouTube is more than YouTube Music.
Its paywall actually allows users to access YouTube Originals which are the platform’s homegrown series, documentaries, and videos!
How Much is YouTube Premium?
Now, we have come to the most exciting part of our discussion. How much will you pay for YouTube’s premium service?
An individual plan costs $12 per month which is roughly the same price as two Americanos.
Not a bad amount for the cornucopia of benefits that comes with it.
Take note that students can avail of YouTube’s discount to lessen the individual plan’s monthly paywall to $7.
The family plan is at $23 per month, with an allowable allocation of up to six devices.
YouTube Annual Users
Now that we know how many people use YouTube Premium, I know some of our readers are curious about the number of people using YouTube itself.
Check out this data on the number of YouTube annual users from 2017 to 2022.
- 2017 – YouTube recorded 1.6 billion annual users during this period
- 2018 – YouTube recorded 1.8 billion annual users during this period
- 2019 – YouTube recorded 2.0 billion annual users during this period
- 2020 – YouTube recorded 2.3 billion annual users during this period
- 2021 – YouTube recorded 2.5 billion annual users during this period
- 2022 – YouTube recorded 2.6 billion annual users during this period
Conclusion
As of the latest count, the platform boasts 80 million subscribers. That sure is a lot of customers!
Users love that their premium subscription comes not only with uninterrupted listening but also access to YouTube Originals which regularly comes with many exciting shows.
