Australia gets free YouTube Music for Google Home

YouTube Music has extended a free ad-supported service to users of Google Home speakers.

It is also available on Google Assistant-powered speakers built by other brands like Panasonic, JBL and Sony.

Australia is one of 16 countries where YouTube Music is accessible on Google Home, along with the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.

As reported recently in TMN, a study by business information provider IHS Markit put Australia as the 7th highest market penetration of smart speaker in the world with 10.7%.

Some of the other countries getting the YouTube Music deal also have high penetration, including the US (20.7%), UK (18.3%), Germany (12.7%) Canada (12.2%), and Japan (5.6%).

Users of the free service will not be able to request specific artists or playlists unless they upgrade to the premium service.

Free users will get a relevant station based on their request.

YouTube’s streaming service has been steadily widening its global presence including India last month.

Spotify rebooted its ad-funded free service last year.

Last week Amazon Music soft-launched its free tier in the US, where Alexa owners (only) can access some playlists and stations via the voice assistant. These include Country Heat, Fuego Latino and Pop Culture.

Commentators assume a full blown ad-supported tier will follow in due course.

Amazon Music is the third largest streaming service, after Spotify and Apple Music.

A report by CIRP in February put the number of smart speakers in the US at 66 million, with Amazon’s Echo claiming a 70% market share and Google 24%.