YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a
subscription service offered by the American video platform
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium
YouTube Originals programming produced in collaboration with the site's creators, ability to download videos and listen background playback of videos on mobile devices, and access to the music streaming service,
YouTube Music, along with other benefits. It has over 125 million subscribers.
The service was originally launched on November 14, 2014, as Music Key, offering advertisement-free streaming of music videos from participating
labels on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and Google Play Music.
The service was then revised and relaunched as YouTube Red on October 21, 2015, expanding its scope to offer advertisement-free access to all YouTube videos, as opposed to just music.
YouTube announced the rebranding of the service as YouTube Premium on May 17, 2018, alongside the return of a separate,
YouTube Music subscription service. Later in the year, it was reported that YouTube was planning to make some of the original content associated with the service available on an ad-supported basis.
History
Music Key
The service was first unveiled in November 2014 as Music Key, serving as a collaboration between
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and
Google Play Music, and meant to succeed the latter's own "All Access" service.
Music Key offered ad-free playback of music videos from participating
labels hosted on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, as well as background and offline playback of music videos on mobile devices from within the YouTube app. The service also included access to Google Play Music All Access, which provides ad-free audio streaming of a library of music. Alongside Music Key, Google also introduced tighter integration between Play Music and YouTube's apps, including the sharing of music recommendations, and access to YouTube's music videos from within the Play Music app.
Music Key was not YouTube's first foray into premium content, having launched film rentals in 2010, and premium, subscription-based channels in 2013.
During its invite-only beta, Music Key faced mixed reception due to the limited scope of the offering; YouTube's chief business officer
Robert Kyncl explained that his daughter was confused over why videos of songs from ''
Frozen'' were not "music" in the scope of the service, and thus not advertisement-free.
These concerns and others led to a revamping of the Music Key concept to create YouTube Red.
YouTube Red
YouTube Red was officially unveiled on October 21, 2015.
Unlike Music Key, YouTube Red was designed to provide ad-free streaming to all videos, rather than just music content. This shift required YouTube to seek permission from its content creators and rights holders to allow their content to be part of the ad-free service; under the new contract terms, partners would receive a share of the total revenue from YouTube Red subscriptions, as determined by how much their content is viewed by subscribers.
YouTube also sought to compete against sites such as
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
,
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
and
Hulu
Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
by offering original content (YouTube Originals) as part of the subscription service, leveraging prominent YouTube personalities in combination with professional producers. Robert Kyncl acknowledged that many of YouTube's prominent personalities had built their followings and created content while operating on a "shoestring budget", but he maintained that "in order to scale up, it takes a different kind of enterprise, a different kind of skill set" such as story-telling and "showrunning".
Prominent YouTube personality
PewDiePie, who was involved in one of the planned originals for the service,
explained that the service was meant to mitigate profit loss from the use of
ad blocking.
On May 18, 2016, YouTube Red and
YouTube Music launched in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the first countries to gain access to the service outside the United States.
On August 3, 2016, YouTube Red support was added to the
YouTube Kids app. On December 6, 2016, YouTube Red expanded to
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
.
["Google launches ad-free YouTube subscription service in Korea"](_blank)
, ''Korea Herald''.
As YouTube Premium
On June 18, 2018, YouTube rebranded the service as YouTube Premium. The price of the service also changed from US$9.99 to US$11.99 per month for new subscribers. The existing pricing, as well as bundling of YouTube Premium with
Google Play Music, was grandfathered in some countries for those who subscribed prior to the rebranding. Alongside the rebranding, the service also expanded into Canada, and 11 European countries (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).
The rebranding came alongside the re-launch of
YouTube Music as a
music streaming service, which reintroduced a music-oriented subscription option (YouTube Music Premium) slotted below YouTube Premium at a US$9.99 pricing, competing primarily with
Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
and
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
.
The rebranding also came amid internal concerns that the previous "YouTube Red" name could be confused with
internet pornography website
RedTube.
By July 2019, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium were available in approximately 60 countries and territories with a subscription price difference. On April 20, 2020, support was added for
Unified Payments Interface for subscribers in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
In August 2021, YouTube began piloting a second subscription tier, "YouTube Premium Lite" in European markets such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden, at a price point of
€6.99. It contained only the ad-free viewing benefit. YouTube discontinued the Premium Lite plan in October 2023.
In September 2022, YouTube tested paywalling
4K resolution streaming of any YouTube video behind YouTube Premium. Amid criticism, this pilot ended in mid-October 2022. In April 2023, YouTube began to pilot a variant of this concept under which some videos offer an enhanced bitrate
1080p
1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...
option.
As of July 2022, in the United States the price of individual accounts on the service was increased to $13.99 per month ($18.99 if purchased via Apple App Store)
Features
A YouTube Premium subscription allows users to watch videos on YouTube without advertisements across the website and its
mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
s, including the dedicated
YouTube Music and
YouTube Kids apps and services. Through the apps, users can also save videos to their device for offline viewing, play their audio in the background, and in
picture-in-picture mode on
Android Oreo and newer.
YouTube Premium also offers original content that is exclusive to subscribers, which is created and published by YouTube's largest creators.
Content
YouTube Premium offers original films and series produced in collaboration with professional studios and
YouTube personalities,
under the banner YouTube Originals. For multi-episode series, the first episode of a YouTube Originals series is available free.
In selected countries where the service is not yet available, individual episodes can also be purchased through YouTube or
Google TV. Access to YouTube Originals is also included in YouTube's separate
streaming television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as films and television series, streamed over the Internet. Standing in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aerial systems, cable t ...
service
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is an American Pay television, subscription Over-the-top media service, over-the-top streaming television service operated by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, which in turn is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., who announced YouTube TV ...
, but a YouTube Premium subscription is still required for the service's other benefits.
In November 2018, it was reported that YouTube was planning to offer some of its premium shows available for free on an ad-supported basis by 2020. The Premium subscription would still cover ad-free access, timed exclusivity windows for original content, and content that is not made freely available.
YouTube significantly scaled back its YouTube Originals program in January 2022.
Reception
Reception to YouTube Premium has been mixed amongst consumers and journalists alike. David Nield of
''Wired'' argues that the premium service is worth it for consumers, saying that in addition to including a music streaming service, the lack of ads and the ability to download videos and having videos played in the background is useful for consumers. YouTube releasing experimental features as well to subscribers was a benefit to Nield, which as of writing included the rollout of
pinch to zoom in videos. Ashley Maready of ''
The Motley Fool'' concurred with Nield in her review, while additionally noting that the benefits also extend out to
YouTube Kids.
Adamya Sharma of ''Android Authority'' argued that the service is only worth it for avid YouTube viewers and that a YouTube Premium subscription would not be worth it if the user did not use all of its features. Additionally, Sharma strongly criticized the manner in which YouTube nagged its viewers to subscribe to Premium and claimed that its attempts have driven users to competitor
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
. Some have additionally noted that YouTube Premium's paid features can easily also be replicated with free online tools, particularly with YouTube video downloader tools replacing Premium's downloading feature and Adblock removing the need to pay to remove ads.
In February 2024, the YouTube Premium service passed 100 million subscribers.
Licensing terms for channels
In May 2014, prior to the official unveiling of the Music Key service, the
independent music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties aff ...
trade organization Worldwide Independent Network alleged that YouTube was using non-negotiable contracts with independent labels that were "undervalued" in comparison to other streaming services, and stated that YouTube threatened to block a label's videos from public access if they did not agree to the new terms. In a statement to the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' in June 2014,
Robert Kyncl confirmed that these measures were "to ensure that all content on the platform is governed by its new contractual terms". Stating that 90% of labels had reached deals, he went on to say that "while we wish that we had
100% success rate, we understand that is not likely an achievable goal and therefore it is our responsibility to our users and the industry to launch the enhanced music experience". The ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' later reported that YouTube had reached an aggregate deal with
Merlin Network
Merlin is a digital rights music licensing partner for independent record labels, distributors, and other music rights holders around the world. It was founded in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive. In January 2020, Jeremy Sirota ste ...
—a trade group representing over 20,000 independent labels, for their inclusion in the service. However, YouTube itself has not confirmed the deal.
Following the unveiling of YouTube Red, it was stated that these same contractual requirements would now apply to all YouTube Partner Program members; partners who do not accept the new terms and revenue sharing agreements related to the YouTube Red service will have their videos blocked entirely in regions where YouTube Red is available. The YouTube channels of
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
were a notable party affected by the change; a representative of ESPN's parent,
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
, stated that conflicts with third-party rights holders in regard to sports footage contained in ESPN's YouTube videos prevented them from being offered under the new terms. A limited number of older videos remain on ESPN's main channel.
Similarly, a large amount of content licensed by
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese record labels became unavailable in regions where YouTube Red is available. It was believed that the ability to download videos for offline viewing in YouTube Red was a subject of hesitation for
Japanese media
The mass media in Japan include numerous television and radio networks as well as newspapers and magazines in Japan. For the most part, television networks were established based on capital investments by existing radio networks. Variety shows, ...
companies due to the need to monitor when, where, and how content is being used in accordance with
Japanese copyright laws, hence their content was blocked under the new requirements.
Geographic availability
As of March 2024, YouTube Premium is available in most of the Americas, Europe and Oceania, as well as parts of Africa and Asia, with a total availability in 119 markets. Following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, Google indefinitely suspended all of its all payment and subscription-based services in the country, including YouTube Premium.
See also
*
Subscription video on demand
*
List of streaming media services
A streaming media service (also simply called a streaming service) is an online platform that allows users to watch or listen to content, such as movies, TV shows, music, or podcasts, over the internet. Instead of downloading the content to the ...
References
External links
*
{{VOD services
2014 establishments in California
Internet properties established in 2015
Subscription video on demand services