Half of YouTube views come from mobile or tablet – update

Half of all views on YouTube come from users viewing the site on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. This has been announced by the CEO of YouTube. She also said YouTube’s music streaming subscriptions are coming soon.

On its own statistics page, YouTube claims that 40 percent of the ‘watch time’ on the video site is mobile. During the Code Mobile conference of the site Re/code, Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube announced that the percentage of views from mobile is 50 percent. It is unclear whether this also means that viewing time from mobile has grown. The number of users does not seem to have increased. The statistics report that the site has more than a billion unique visitors per month and Wojcicki reiterated this. Every year, the number of viewing hours would increase by 50 percent.

Wojcicki also announced that the music service YouTube has been working on since last year is “coming soon.” “We’re working on it. It’s unbelievable how much music we have. I remain optimistic that you will see the service soon.” The subscription-based music service has been expected for a long time. Google, YouTube’s parent company, is reportedly struggling to reach agreements with the music industry. Screenshots recently appeared of Google’s upcoming Spotify competitor, showing that subscriptions will cost 10 euros per month. According to Wojcicki, users will soon be able to choose a paid version or a free version with advertisements.

Update, 13.27: Incorrect information about percentage of users has been adjusted to views and article has been further modified to highlight the difference between views and watch time.