YouTube said in a blog post today (Dec. 17) that it intended to withdraw its streaming data from all of Billboard’s charts, effective Jan. 16 (for the charts dated Jan. 31).
The blog post comes in the wake of Billboard’s announcement yesterday (Dec. 16) of a change to chart methodology that will continue to weigh subscription streams more favorably than ad-supported streams, in a bid to better reflect changing consumer behaviors and the increased revenue derived from streaming in the industry. The change means that paid/subscription streams will be weighted against ad-supported streams at a 1:2.5 ratio, narrowed from the previous 1:3 ratio.
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Effective of the Jan. 17-dated charts — reflecting data from Jan. 2 to Jan. 8 — the Billboard 200 and other genre album consumption charts will reflect that an album consumption unit will equal 2,500 ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams from songs on an album. Previously, an album consumption unit had equaled 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand streams or 3,750 ad-supported streams, meaning that it will soon take 20% fewer paid/subscription on-demand streams and 33.3% fewer ad-supported on-demand streams to equal an album equivalent unit. The 1:2.5 ratio will also go into effect for the Billboard Hot 100 and other streaming and song consumption-based charts.
YouTube’s inclusion as part of the Billboard charts dates to 2013, when Billboard’s song charts, including the Hot 100, began incorporating YouTube streaming data — making Billboard the first ranking in the world to do so. Billboard’s album charts, including the Billboard 200, began incorporating YouTube streaming data in 2019, making those also the first prominent album charts in the world to do so. YouTube will now be voluntarily withholding its data for all of Billboard’s U.S. and global charts.
In YouTube’s blog post, global head of music Lyor Cohen wrote that the weighting formula “doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription.” Cohen continued that YouTube’s stance is that both paid/subscription and ad-supported streams be counted equally.
“There are so many ways a fan can support an artist they love, and each has a specific place in the music ecosystem,” a spokesperson for Billboard said. “Billboard strives to measure that activity appropriately; balanced by various factors including consumer access, revenue analysis, data validation and industry guidance. It is our hope that YouTube reconsiders and joins Billboard in recognizing the reach and popularity of artists on all music platforms and in celebrating their achievements though the power of fans and how they interact with the music that they love.”
Billboard first began weighting paid/subscription streams higher than ad-supported streams in 2018; international organizations such as IFPI also incorporate weighting systems into their own charts. “It is Billboard’s belief that assigning values to the levels of consumer engagement and access — along with the compensation derived from those options — better reflects the varied user activity occurring on these services,” Billboard wrote at the time the weighting decision was made.
YouTube maintains both a massive global ad-supported streaming service and a paid subscription service. Cohen announced at Billboard’s Latin Music Week in October that YouTube had paid out $8 billion to the music business over the past 12 months, though the service has also come under fire from some in the industry — most notably Irving Azoff — over allegations of low artist royalties, with Azoff calling the service “by far the worst offender.” In a guest column for Billboard, Azoff noted that YouTube’s $8 billion payout figure was about 13% of its $60 billion in revenue, and that over that same period, Spotify generated around $18 billion in revenue and paid out $12 billion to music rights holders, or 67% of revenues.