Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

YouTube TV takes the No. 1 streaming spot with 5 million subscribers

Phil Nickinson
By

There’s a new No. 1 in the world of live TV streaming in the United States. The leader, apparently, is YouTube TV.

In a blog post penned by Christian Oestlien, VP of Product Management for YouTube TV and Connected TV, the company says “today, we’re humbled that 5 million of you are currently on this journey with us.” That’s some 2 million more subscribers since the last time we got an update in October 2020, when YouTube TV crowed about having “more than 3 million” subscribers. The new 5 million number also includes those who are in the trial period, YouTube TV said.

Related Videos
YouTube TV on Roku TV
Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

Unlike most of its competitors, YouTube TV doesn’t give a precise breakdown of its subscriber numbers. Hulu With Live TV does, however, reporting 4.1 million subscribers as of April 2022. Sling TV reported 2.252 million subscribers, and FuboTV had 1.056 million subscribers as of March 31, 2022.

Related

The blog post also laid out a few fun facts. The current five most DVR’d shows? Yellowstone, Saturday Night Live, This is Us, 60 Minutes, and Grey’s Anatomy.

YouTube TV has one main plan with more than 100 channels. It costs $65 and includes support for up to a half-dozen connected profiles and unlimited recording. There’s also a pricey 4K option, which gets you some live sports and a fair number of on-demand shows in the higher resolution, all for an extra $20 a month.

YouTube TV also has a fair number of optional add-ons, including a “Spanish Plus” extra with more than 25 Spanish-language channels, NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, Showtime, Starz, and more. There’s also a separate “Spanish Plan” that’s available separately for $25 a month.

More on YouTube TV

YouTube TV is available on all major streaming platforms, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Android TV, and Apple TV. It’s also available on phones and tablets and in web browsers.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
YouTube TV increases its monthly prices by $8 – is now the time to switch?
YouTube TV on Roku.

YouTube TV has raised the price of its monthly subscription by $8, from $65 to $73. The move comes on the heels of its announcement that it will be adding a multiview feature for sports channels. The change in price will hit current subscribers on April 18, however, the streaming service, which is owned by Google, has already started charging new customers the higher price.

It's been a while since YouTube TV last raised its prices. That was in 2020, when the streaming service increased subscriptions from $50 to $65. When the service first launched in 2017, it only cost $35 per month.

Read more
YouTube TV rolls out multiview: watch up to 4 NCAA games at once
An example of YouTube TV's multiview feature.

If you love college basketball and can process more than one game at a time, you're going to go bananas for YouTube TV's new multiview feature, which will be rolling out on a limited, early access basis starting March 14.  With multiview, you'll be able to pick up to four channels and see them all simultaneously, with the ability to easily flip the active audio from one to another. The new feature is compatible with any TV-based YouTube TV installations (streaming media players, smart TVs, and game consoles), but it doesn't yet work on mobile devices or computers.

Initially, multiview will only be available to select YouTube TV users, who will be chosen at random. But Google says the goal is to include every subscriber by the time NFL football season starts in the fall. Another limitation, at least for now, is that YouTube TV will preselect the multiview channels you can choose. At launch, only channels that carry NCAA tournament games will be included in that preselected list.
How to use YouTube TV multiview
If you're one of the lucky, randomly chosen users, you'll see an option to watch up to four preselected, different streams at once in your “Top Picks for You” section. After selecting multiview, you can switch audio and captions between streams, and jump in and out of a full-screen view of a game.
It's all about sports
At the moment, YouTube TV sees multiview as an enhancement of the sports viewing experience, so only sports content will be eligible. YouTube TV has had some big sports wins in 2022, including 4K coverage of the Soccer World Cup, and that trend will continue in 2023 thanks to its acquisition of the NFL Sunday Ticket games. However, YouTube TV recently lost access to MLB Network and the MLB.tv add-on, which reduces the amount of sports content available for multiview in 2023.

Read more
The first Roku-made televisions are now available at Best Buy
Roku Select Series television.

Roku today announced that its first slate of Roku Select and Roku Plus Series televisions — the first sets to actually be made by Roku — are now available exclusively at Best Buy. The first 11 models are meant to be affordable options not unlike the Roku TVs made by the company's manufacturing partners. (Those partners, so far as we know, will still make their own Roku TVs.)

The Plus Series is the more advanced of the two options, with QLED screens at 55, 65, and 75 inches. Those prices hit $649, $749, and $1,199, respectively.

Read more