YouTube Now Has 265 Million Monthly Active Users in India, Its Largest User Base Globally

Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday announced India was its largest and fastest growing audience in the world with more than 265 million monthly active users. This represents a growth of nearly 18 percent over last year's numbers, when YouTube had 225 million monthly active users in the country.

At its annual flagship event, Brandcast, YouTube shared insights on the exponential growth of online video ecosystem and how it is interlinked to India's Internet growth story.

"India is now both our biggest audience and one of our fastest growing audiences in the world. YouTube today has become the first stop for users to consume content, whether they're looking for entertainment or information.

"It is this incredible variety of content combined with the growing reach that makes YouTube a perfect platform for brands to drive personalised engagement," Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's CEO, said in a statement quoting ComScore data.

In the past one year, YouTube's consumption on mobile has increased to 85 percent, with 60 percent of the watch time coming from outside of the six largest metros in the country.

YouTube creators have become effective storytellers, with more than 1,200 Indian creators crossing the one million subscriber-milestone, while just five years ago, there were only two creators with a million subscribers on the platform.

Separately, YouTube VP of Product Management, Adam Smith, said that daily active users in India have grown 100 percent year-on-year.

Written with inputs from IANS