United Media Services study: YouTube Premium, Romanians’ favourite when it comes to social media platforms paid subscriptions (31%)

In the context of Meta announcing the introduction of an ad-free paid subscription for Facebook and Instagram users, United Media Services returns to the market with a new quantitative study in which it analyzes in detail the opinion of consumers about the premium/paid subscriptions currently offered by social media platforms.

Overall, the opinions regarding the premium subscriptions’ usefulness are divided, and people rather believe it is not worth paying for some premium benefits & features of social media platforms they use.

The vast majority (87%) of Facebook and/or Instagram users are not interested in paying for a premium (ad-free) subscription to Meta

However, they find some value in paying for the premium versions of YouTube and Spotify (most up to 25 RON/month).

However, 3 in 10 social media users said they currently pay for some premium subscription, with YouTube Premium being the most used (1 in 5 YouTube users); also, 1 in 10 Facebook/Instagram users said they already subscribed to Meta Premium.

“Spotify Premium has a very good degree of retention among its users, 1 out of 3 using the paid version, resulting that Romanians are music consumers and prefer to enjoy it without being interrupted by advertising or other messages.

Although the ad-free experience is the most claimed benefit of a premium subscription, users are attracted not only by this but also by other features such as exclusive/premium content, additional storage space, enhanced privacy settings, etc. But for the majority of social network users, these benefits do not justify paying a premium subscription,” said Anca Băcăianu, Head of Strategy and Research at United Media Services.

YouTube has the most attractive premium services for social media users (31% being interested in YouTube Premium), followed by Meta Premium (Facebook & Instagram) with 11%, Spotify Premium (10%), LinkedIn Premium (8 %), etc.

Social media ads = source of information before shopping

“Regarding the ad clutter in social media, people have noticed it, but they got used to it and seem not to bother them too much; moreover, many users consciously consider the social media ads as an important source of information when shopping and sometimes a hot topic of discussion with friends that they would not miss. We can conclude that, interestingly, social media ads are not such a strong factor as one might expect for getting a premium ad-free subscription,” said Anca Băcăianu.

Methodology

The study was carried out in the form of online interviews by the agency United Media Services, between November 9-14, 2023, on a target group of active Romanians, aged between 18-55, from urban areas, and aimed at the way in which they use social media platforms and their paid content, their attitudes and interests in premium subscriptions.

About United Media Services

United Media Services is a full-service media agency, with a focus in the digital area, with an office in Bucharest and regional media coordination skills, and was included three times in the Top 100 Global: Fastest Growing Companies ranking of the famous international publication by marcom Adweek. The agency currently works for more than 80 clients and 100 brands from the most dynamic categories, such as retail, pharma, telecom, e-comm, FMCG, financial, etc.