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\n\tYouTube now has 125 million subscribers across YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, according to an open letter from Lyor Cohen<\/strong> published on Wednesday (March 5).\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tCohen called this number \u2014 which includes trial users \u2014 \u201can incredible milestone that many laughed off as impossible when we first launched. This momentum is critical to our goal of becoming the No. 1 contributor of revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn addition, Cohen announced that YouTube launched a new subscription tier<\/a> in the U.S., Premium Lite, which allows users to watch the majority of videos without ads. (They will still be shown ads on music videos, other music content, and Shorts.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tPremium Lite costs $7.99 a month, rather than YouTube Premium\u2019s $13.99. During tests of Premium Lite, Cohen noted, \u201cmore Lite members upgraded to YouTube Premium than Premium members downgraded to Premium Lite.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe Lite tier will presumably help YouTube in its efforts to conquer what CEO Neal Mohan<\/strong> called<\/a> \u201cthe next frontier\u201d for the company \u2014 \u201cthe living room.\u201d Viewers are \u201cwatching YouTube the way we used to sit down together for traditional TV shows \u2014 on the biggest screen in the home with friends and family,\u201d Mohan wrote in February 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cViewers globally now watch more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on their TVs every day,\u201d he continued. \u201cAccording to Nielsen\u2019s report on streaming<\/a> in the U.S., YouTube was the leader in streaming watchtime for the past 11 months.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCohen struck a similar theme in his recent letter. \u201cFor 2 years in a row, Nielsen ranked YouTube the No. 1 streaming platform in watch time in the U.S.,\u201d he wrote. TVs are \u201cthe fastest\ufeff-\ufeffgrowing surface for YouTube,\u201d Cohen added, \u201cand the primary viewing device in the U.S.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tYouTube celebrated its 20th anniversary in February, and Cohen was characteristically bullish on the company\u2019s future. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHave you ever heard of anyone retiring at 20?\u201d he asked. \u201c20 is when things get interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n