▶️ What 462 Mn Indians Watch on YouTube
With 462M viewers, Indians make YouTube’s largest user base. What do we love watching on YouTube? ReadOn!
462 million Indians watch YouTube!
That’s ~32% of India’s population (1,441 million in 2024) tuning in to YouTube from the comfort of their homes, offices, and even on the go!
In fact, the world’s most subscribed YouTube channel is an Indian channel, T-Series, with ~261 million subscribers.
Let’s understand YouTube’s Indian market first:
The largest user group on YouTube in India falls within the 18-35 age bracket.
Male users constitute 62.2% of the viewer population, while female users account for 37.8% of visitors.
Hindi is the most popular language on YouTube in India, followed by English, Telugu, and Marathi.
Users in India spend approximately 29 hours per month on YouTube.
What's driving this YouTube obsession?
First things first, let's thank mota bhai for blessing India with Jio’s dirt-cheap internet in 2016. Since then, the number of internet users has gone up like crazy!
During the pandemic, rural India took over urban India!
This digitisation helped YouTube reach a wider audience.
And why not?
YouTube caters to every imaginable interest - entertainment, music, news, information, and everything in between.
So, what are Indians actually watching on YouTube?
Most popular YouTube categories: music, entertainment, and comedy.
*According to number of subscribers
While these are big entities, CarryMinati's comic (read:cussing) style has won over Indians and he is the most subscribed Indian youtuber with 41.4 million subscribers.
A lot of this growth is coming from local, native Indian languages across genres. While genres like comedy, food, health and beauty continue to rise, we are seeing tremendous growth in uniquely Indian content like village food, farming, etc
– Satya Raghavan, Director, YouTube Content partnerships, India
General trends seen around the globe:
A survey was conducted by the YouTube Culture & Trends team in 14 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. Respondents were adults who are online, aged 18-44, and Gen Z who are online, aged 18-24, n=25,892.
It was found that:
54% of 25,892 people surveyed said that they would prefer to watch creators breaking down a major event rather than the event itself (e.g., Oscars, Grammys)!
68% of people surveyed said that they watch videos about a specific topic that they are into in multiple different formats (e.g., short form, long form, podcasts, live streams)!
Preferred time for consumption?
Evenings are the best to unwind after work or school/college.
But YouTube is not just about consumption.
It’s equally about content creation. So much so that the term ‘YouTuber’ has become a sought-after profession.
India has over 75,000 channels with more than 1,00,000 subscribers!
This boom is supported by YouTube's monetisation features, including ad revenues, channel memberships, and Super Chat, enabling creators to earn and grow.
Result?
YouTube claims to have contributed over Rs. 16,000 crore to India's GDP and supported the equivalent of 7.5 lakh full-time jobs.
YouTube is no longer just a platform in India. It’s a canvas for millions to paint their dreams and a stage for stories to be told.
Who's your favourite Youtuber?
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Sidemen.