YouTube Premium and Music pass 150 million subscribers, but the count includes trials
YouTube’s combined Premium and Music subscriber total passed 150 million as quarterly ad sales reached $11.2 billion. The milestone leaves the paid-only count unclear.
YouTube Premium and YouTube Music together passed 150 million subscribers globally in the third quarter of 2026, a milestone Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced alongside the company’s October 28 earnings, The Hollywood Reporter reported. The total includes trials, so it does not show how many people are paying for either service.
The figure is up from more than 125 million across the two services, also including trials, that YouTube disclosed last year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. YouTube has not broken out separate subscriber counts for Premium and Music.
What YouTube’s 150 million figure counts
The milestone combines YouTube’s two subscription services rather than measuring one product on its own. Variety also reported the trial-inclusive global figure, attributing it to the company. That distinction matters when comparing the number with paid subscriber totals elsewhere: a trial can be counted here without establishing that its user has become a paying customer.
The disclosure gives a view of how widely the services have spread, but it does not identify which one contributed more to the increase from last year’s reported total. It also cannot establish a paid-only increase because both figures include trials.
How YouTube’s advertising business performed
YouTube’s advertising revenue reached $11.2 billion in the quarter, compared with $10.3 billion a year earlier, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Variety put the year-on-year increase at 9.2%, below analyst projections and slower than the 13% growth it reported for the second quarter of 2026 and 11% for the first. The year-earlier quarter had grown 15%.
That makes the subscription milestone and advertising result two different signals from the same quarter: the combined subscriber count rose from the previously disclosed level, while ad sales increased at a slower rate than in recent quarters. The $11.2 billion advertising figure was roughly level with the second quarter, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The results landed as Alphabet reported $127.6 billion in total quarterly revenue, up 25%, and $26.17 billion in net income, down 25%, Variety reported. Earnings per share were $2.12, against the $3.02 consensus estimate cited by Variety from LSEG; revenue was also below the $128.2 billion estimate. Those company-wide figures put YouTube’s announcement within an earnings report that missed analysts’ overall expectations despite higher sales.
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Sources and context
- YouTube Premium and Music Subscribers Pass 150 Million as Ad Revenue Tops $11 Billion in Q3The Hollywood Reporter
- YouTube Q3 Ad Revenue Rises 9% to $11.2 Billion as Alphabet Misses Earnings EstimatesVariety
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.