YouTube Premium

"YouTube Red" redirects here. Not to be confused with RedTube.

YouTube Premium
Formerly
  • Music Key (2014–15)
  • YouTube Red (2015–18)
Company typeDivision
IndustryInternet
FoundedNovember 14, 2014; 10 years ago (November 14, 2014)
Headquarters901 Cherry Avenue
San Bruno, California, United States
Area served
119 countries and territories; mostly in the Americas, Europe and Oceania, and in parts of Africa and Asia (see full list)
Members100 million (as of January 2024)[1]
ParentYouTube
Websiteyoutube.com/premium
Footnotes / references
[2][3][4][5]

YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. 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, downloading videos and background playback of videos on mobile devices, and access to the music streaming service, YouTube Music, along with other benefits.[6] It has over 100 million subscribers.[1]

The service was originally launched on November 14, 2014, as Music Key, offering advertisement-free streaming of music videos from participating labels on YouTube and Google Play Music.[7][8][9] 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.[10]

YouTube announced the rebranding of the service as YouTube Premium on May 17, 2018, alongside the return of a separate, YouTube Music subscription service.[11][12] 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.

  1. ^ a b Smith, Adam (February 1, 2024). "Crossing 100 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers, thanks to you". YouTube Official Blog. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  2. ^ Deahl, Dani (June 18, 2018). "YouTube Music and YouTube Premium officially launch in US, Canada, UK, and other countries". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  3. ^ "Paid memberships available locations – YouTube Help". support.google.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  4. ^ "YouTube Premium and Music now available in 14 more countries". GSMArena.com. Archived from the original on October 3, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  5. ^ Smith, Adam (February 1, 2024). "Crossing 100 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers, thanks to you". YouTube Official Blog. Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  6. ^ Statt, Nick (June 23, 2016). "YouTube Red buys its first big TV series". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  7. ^ Trew, James (November 12, 2014). "YouTube unveils Music Key subscription service, here's what you need to know". Engadget. AOL. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  8. ^ Newton, Casey (November 12, 2014). "YouTube announces plans for a subscription music service". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  9. ^ Spangler, Todd (November 12, 2014). "YouTube Launches 'Music Key' Subscription Service with More Than 30 Million Songs". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  10. ^ Popper, Ben (October 21, 2015). "Red Dawn: An inside look at YouTube's new ad-free subscription service". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  11. ^ "Introducing YouTube Premium". Official YouTube Blog. May 16, 2018. Archived from the original on April 29, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  12. ^ Savov, Vlad (May 17, 2018). "Google announces YouTube Music and YouTube Premium". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2018.