YouTube Music scores lead over Spotify: Claims 3 Mn downloads within a week

In recent times, India has emerged as one of the unique and crowded markets in the global music streaming industry. While Indian music consumption behaviour grows and changes, many global players have forayed in the market to make an early dent.

Online music streaming app YouTube Music is one such player. In a week after its launch in India, the Google-owned streaming app has surpassed three million downloads, said Susan Wojcicki, Chief Executive Officer of YouTube.

She further said that the firm is looking to reach 500 million internet users on its platform.

In March, YouTube had launched its music streaming app and paid service Youtube Premium offering users ad-free services, background play, and offline download feature.

Earlier, a viewer had to switch between YouTube and a music streaming app. Now, it’s all in one place. Last month, it hit the Indian market with premium service at Rs 99 a month.

In February this year, the Swedish music streaming giant Spotify had launched its services in India. Aware of its price-sensitive market, it entered the Indian market by offering premium subscription plans starting at Rs 13 for daily and Rs 119 for a monthly subscription. I

In just a week time, it claimed to have 1 million downloads.

Comparatively, YouTube has been a bit flexible and affordable in its plan. Unlike its rivals, it offers a family plan at Rs 149 plan for six members.

While YouTube offers music content on almost most of the languages spoken in India, its competitors like Gaana and JioSaavn offer music in 15 languages. Swedish music streaming giant support only 7 languages.

YouTube Music recommendation is also considered better based on Google account settings.

In compare to audio-only players, passion for video ranks YouTube ahead of its peers. As per a Nielsen study conducted last year, YouTube was the most popular platform followed by Jio and Google Music.

Meanwhile, YouTube's large user base is also adding to the punch. On Tuesday, It claimed to have reached 265 million monthly active users in the country and hailed as a default search engine for videos.

In India, the music streaming market has players such as Times Internet-owned Gaana, Wynk, Amazon Prime and Reliance’s JioSaavn. Among all these players, Gaana and JioSaavan lead the market with over 120 million monthly users.

According to Deloitte research, online music listening market is expected to cross $273 million by March 2020. Currently, there are more than 150 million online consumers on online streaming apps.