As part of a larger push to boost its global subscriptions, Google’s YouTube is pilot-testing a discounted two-person Premium plan with select users in France, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan. The tier’s pilot program, which allows users to share their YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium membership with another household member (13 years or older) without committing to a family plan, comes as the platform looks to diversity beyond its advertising business. YouTube is testing whether the plan, similar to the Duo offering from music streamer Spotify, would be appealing to couples or roommates looking to minimize costs while maintaining separate accounts. Continue reading YouTube Tests Two-Person Premium Tier to Help Grow Subs

Recorded music revenues in the United States reached $8.4 billion for the first half of 2023, an all-time high for the period that translates to a 9.3 percent increase, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Streaming continued to thrive, accounting for a whopping 84 percent of the six-month revenue total, or $7 billion. Total revenue from paid subscription services grew 11 percent to $5.5 billion, nearly double the growth in the number of individual paid accounts, which rose by just over 6 percent year-over-year, to an average of 95.8 million accounts. Continue reading Streaming Drives Music Revenue in the U.S. to a New Record

YouTube has released new details regarding its previously announced transition to ad-supported free content to be made available via YouTube Originals. According to a statement from the YouTube team: “New YouTube Originals series, movies, and live events released after September 24, 2019 will be made available to non-members to watch for free, with ads. For series, members will get immediate access to every episode of a new season, while non-members will have to wait for each new episode to be released.” Continue reading Ad-Supported YouTube Originals to Be Free For Everyone

In a strategy shift, Google-owned YouTube plans to make much of its original video programming available for free starting next year. YouTube Originals will be offered as free, ad-supported content, rather than exclusively available via the $11.99-per-month YouTube Premium subscription service (formerly called YouTube Red). YouTube will continue to greenlight scripted productions, but plans to scale back in order to focus on more mainstream celebrity-driven and creator-based reality offerings. YouTube refers to the new strategy of combining ad-supported and SVOD programming as “Single Slate.” Continue reading YouTube Plans to Offer Free, Ad-Supported Originals in 2019