YouTube’s most popular country revealed (not the U.S.!)
YouTube reveals the country where both creators and viewers are exploding in engagement and it’s surprisingly not the United States.
YouTube’s CEO Neal Mohan has revealed where is number one in the world for YouTube. India takes the top spot for hungry viewers, with more people watching YouTube videos than anywhere else in the world.
Mohan tells how the country’s audiences come to YouTube, celebrating: “[YouTube] Shorts, which we first launched in India, now have trillions of views here.” He adds: “YouTube is number one in reach and watch time in India. We just passed a huge milestone.
According to Mohan, India isn’t just huge for views on YouTube videos. He reveals that over 11,000 Indian YouTube creators now have more than 1 million subscribers each. That’s a 50% increase on last year.
Indian creators of all shapes and sizes are seeing massive success in India, particularly music. The second most-subscribed channel in the world is Indian music channel T-Series with 271 million subscribers, behind only Mr Beast.
7 of the 10 most popular artists in YouTube’s Global Weekly Top Artists are from India at the time of writing. The entire top 5 is made up of Indian music artists.
Earlier in the year, Luminate’s 2023 end of the year report showed how the number of songs streamed in India had grown massively in 2023. Whilst they remain second in the world to the United States for total streams of audio + video, their growth in streams from the year before far out sped any other country’s. If their pace of growth in streaming consumption continues, India is well on the way to be the biggest digital consumer in the world.
YouTube wins the streaming game for overall video and audio in India. However, Spotify holds a strong place in Indian user’s consumption. Spotify remains the leading dedicated music streaming service, but YouTube’s visual platform remains more popular.
How artists can reach Indian audiences
With over a billion potential listeners and a streaming boom, India is a fantastic place to release your music. Thankfully, it’s both free and simple to reach Indian listeners from anywhere in the world with your music.
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