Alphabet-owned YouTube’s subscriptions and ad revenue soared. The company said on Wednesday that it now has 325 million paying users on Google One and YouTube Premium, up from 300 million three months earlier.
YouTube reported ad revenue increased 9% to $11.38 billion in the fourth quarter, but missed analysts’ average estimate of $11.84 billion. YouTube’s overall revenue, including advertising and subscriptions, came in at $60 billion in the full financial year, up 17% compared to the previous year.
The company says that YouTube $8 per month, premium tier with no ads see strong traction, but do not specify the number. It added that YouTube Premium is also experiencing strong growth.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the company plans to create a subscription offering, mainly to tap into YouTube TV’s growing user base. “We’re about to launch a new YouTube TV plan, bringing more choice and flexibility to our customers with more than 10 genre-specific packages,” he said.
YouTube Shorts recorded 200 billion daily views on average in the quarter, the same as last year, but in some countries, ads on short-form videos earned more than in-stream ads on an hourly basis, the company said. Pichai also highlighted podcasts as a growing format, with viewers watching 700 million hours of podcasts from TV in October.
YouTube says its AI features seem to be catching on, and more than 1 million channels are using them AI creates gear. The company said 20 million consumers used its Gemini-powered content discovery tool in December.