The Google-owned platform revealed an impressive set of milestones to mark YouTube’s 20th birthday, and also unveiled a slate of new features for both creators and users.
On April 23, YouTube announced that everyday, more than 20 million videos are uploaded to the site, with over 20 billion videos shared to date including music, Shorts, podcasts and more.
Emphasizing its impact on the music business, YouTube pointed out that more than 300 music videos have now reached one billion views. Some of the fastest videos to have done so include:
- Adele’s “Hello” (88 days)
- Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” (97 days)
- Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” (97 days)
- J Balvin and Willy William’s “Mi Gente” (103 days)
- ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT” (105 days)
In 2024, YouTube users left over 100 million comments daily and clicked the like button more than 3.5 billion times per day, underscoring just how massive the platform’s global engagement is.
New Features to Celebrate the 20-Year Milestone
You have to celebrate two decades of video sharing, and YouTube just introduced some hot new changes:
- 4x Playback Speed: Premium subscribers can now watch videos 4 times faster on mobile.
- Better TV Experience: A new, more convenient TV, more streamlined interlacing playback, faster comments, channel info, and subscribe.
- Voice Replies to Comments: Later this year, additional creators will be able to respond to comments on their video using voice, which has been available to a small group of creators.
- Custom Multiview on YouTube TV: Subscribers will have the ability to customize their multiview experience in the coming months, beginning with select non-sports content and eventually including more channels.
YouTube TV’s multiview option brings the ability to stream multiple live feeds at the same time on one screen because some of us never watch a live event with just one thing going on at a time.
Subscription Growth and New Plans
YouTube also reported that it has surpassed 125 million subscribers globally for its Music and Premium offerings, as of March 2025. In addition to subscriptions, the company also recently introduced a new low-cost plan called “Premium Lite” in the U.S.
Premium Lite offers:
- Ad-free streaming on most video content, including gaming, comedy, music, cooking and learning.
- Ads will continue to be shown on music videos, music content and Shorts.
- Background play and offline access are not included.
YouTube is meanwhile driving subscription growth by clamping down on adblockers and testing premium prices in certain markets including India.
While Google doesn’t reveal YouTube’s complete quarterly revenue, CEO Sundar Pichai said in October 2024 that YouTube’s total revenue had surpassed $50 billion over the previous four quarters a key signal of its power (the company did not update this number in its earnings report).
