YouTube’s recent announcement of its newest venture – a standalone music streaming app called YouTube Music – has created quite the buzz. Fast becoming leaders in a user-focused experience, YouTube rolled out this highly anticipated music app last week that provides users with an ad-free video music streaming service.
As it turns out, YouTube’s decision to create this app is backed by considerable data. Amid a user-base comprised of a staggering 1 billion individuals, this free standalone app’s power is significantly amplified when paired with a YouTube Red subscription. YouTube – owned by the tech giant Google, already known for its music app, Google Play Music – has carved another niche in the music streaming industry.
Similar to the ways of large corporate entities, YouTube operates its services semi-autonomously. It follows a growing trend among tech giants to release standalone apps for prominent services within their platforms. This is evident through Facebook’s separate applications for messenger, Groups, and Pages. Akin to Facebook, YouTube is navigating this path by introducing separate applications in three main areas – gaming, kid-friendly content, and music – each attracting dedicated user bases.
Riding high on the success wave, YouTube now boasts a user base comprising 80% of users located outside the United States and approximately 50% of its traffic stems from mobile users.
It’s also worth mentioning YouTube’s Music Insight, a feature designed to provide artists with insights about where their most loyal fans or viewers are located, thereby enabling more informed decisions in matters concerning tours and concerts. It’s a part of the strategic shift orchestrated by YouTube to transform from a general streaming platform into a more streamlined destination for a variety of services.
However, to experience the new free music app in its full capacity, a YouTube Red subscription is almost a necessity. With YouTube Red, users are entitled to exciting features such as ad-free content, offline music listening, and the ability to seamlessly switch between video or audio-only. Users can also relish the superb functionality that allows any video to play even when they’re using another app or their screen is turned off.
As YouTube continues to evolve, there is an array of compelling statistics that underline its popularity and growth:
- YouTube has over a billion users — nearly one-third of all people on the Internet — and every day, hundreds of millions of hours are consumed on YouTube, generating billions of views.
- YouTube’s reach among both 18-34 and 18-49-year-olds surpasses any cable network in the U.S.
- The number of hours people spend watching videos on YouTube is up 60% y/y, marking the fastest growth seen in the last two years.
- Since March 2014, the number of daily YouTube viewers has surged 40% y/y.
- YouTube homepage traffic, where users start their journey – comparable to switching on TV – is up more than 3x y/y.
Here are some quick facts about YouTube’s product and mobile-user statistics:
- 80% of YouTube’s views come from outside of the U.S.
- YouTube has launched local versions in over 70 countries.
- YouTube supports 76 different languages, covering nearly 95% of the Internet population.
- Once a user lands on YouTube, they typically spend more than 40 minutes per session watching videos on their mobile, which is up more than 50% y/y.
- The number of hours spent watching videos on mobile has surged 100% y/y.
- More than half of YouTube views hail from mobile devices.
- YouTube’s mobile revenue has doubled y/y.
To experience this new music app, Android users can download it here while iOS users can find and download the app from the App Store here. The app offers a 14-day free trial period, after which the service is available for subscription at approximately $10/2,000 Naira/1,000 KES monthly.
This article was updated in 2025 to reflect modern realities.
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