YouTube Red Has Just 1.5 Million Paid Subscribers [Report]

It's not easy to get people to pay for something that they are used to using for free. That's the man takeaway from a new report that YouTube's paid service Red had just 1.5 million paid subscribers as of this summer.

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YouTube Red had just 1.5 million paying subscribers as of late summer, with another 1 million users signed up on a free trial basis, multiple sources tell The Verge. YouTube launched its paid service on October of 2015. Thus far it is available in US, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.Given YouTube's 1 billion monthly users, the stats do not bode well for YouTube Red or sister service YouTube Music. Spotify is estimated to have 40 million paid users and Apple Music 17 million.In a statement to The Verge, YouTube said it is satisfied with Red's growth: “We’re pleased with momentum behind YouTube Red and we’re seeing healthy growth of members each month. While we don't release or comment on speculative numbers, we’re seeing strong engagement of the service in the four countries we’ve launched, leading us to invest in more originals series and movies for 2017 and increased marketing of YouTube Music.”