• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 18, 2021

YouTube surpassed $3 billion in consumer spend from various paid membership channels and premium subscriptions worldwide as of October 17, 2021 -- driven entirely by Apple iOS, according to data from App Annie, a mobile data and analytics provider.

These memberships and subscriptions allow for uninterrupted viewing.

The data released Monday shows that in the second quarter, YouTube consumer spend -- only on iOS -- came in at $368.8 million. This was up 15% quarter-over-quarter between July 2021 and June 2021.

For the twelve months ending Q2 2021 -- from July 2020 to June 2021 -- the numbers came in at $1.19 billion, about 84% year-over-year growth for the same timeframe.

YouTube’s lifetime consumer spend on iOS only exceeds that of entertainment apps, including TikTok and Pandora for iOS and Google Play combined.

YouTube also took the No. 1 spot for live streaming app by spend -- combined on iOS and Google Play -- as of October 10, 2021.

The video site also ranked No. 3 among all non-gaming apps by global lifetime consumer spend in the same time period. In this ranking, Tinder held the No. 1 spot. 

YouTube’s paid music streaming services recently achieved a milestone of 50 million subscribers in August 2021, after a slow start since launching in 2018. That up from the 30 million subscribers YouTube reported in October last year.

After years of friction with the music industry due to YouTube’s efforts to convince some of its billions of users to pay for content, Google hired Lyor Cohen, a record executive who helped develop artists including Kanye West. He has led the launch of YouTube Music and turned it into a Spotify rival.