YouTube: India's go-to place for news and entertainment

The video-sharing platform has an estimated 567 million users and is set to grow in the years ahead.

The YouTube era is here, and it is changing the way people access news, obtain knowledge, learn skills, and most importantly, get entertained. The video-sharing platform has been the biggest beneficiary of India's mobile revolution, growing from 122 million users in 2017 to an estimated 567 million in 2022. The number of viewers is expected to reach 833 million by 2025, which means that the opportunity to monetise content is set to become bigger.

Simultaneously, India has become its biggest market and user base. As a result, there are three Indian channels in the global top 10 channels by subscribers and video views.

The Indian top 10 channels have a cumulative video view count of 687 billion, a resounding testimony to the power of high levels of mobile penetration. Also, Hindi channels corner the lion's share of video views among the top 100 channels, while regional languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Marathi, and so on, are sparsely represented. Most of the top channels host entertainment content, and news comes a distant second. Content aimed at children is also a strong contender.

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The vast majority of the 100 most watched YouTube channels in India can be clubbed under the category of Entertainment.

With the exception of a children’s channel, the top 10 are devoted to cinema, film music, and television programmes.

Hindi is the language of choice among the top 100, accounting for an overwhelming number of video views.

Regional languages do find a place, represented by Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, and so on, thanks to widespread mobile phone penetration.

Big banners rule all the way: the lion’s share of views is cornered by established brands, starting from the big daddy of them all, T-Series.

Surprisingly, educational and cooking channels, deemed immensely popular, do not figure in the top 100.