Hindustan Times emerges as #1 English News Channel on YouTube

Hindustan Times’ YouTube channel is topping the charts for its video views with a staggering 157 million views in April 2023, streaming ahead of the competition with CNN-News18 (101 million), Wion (81 million), India Today (77 million), Times Now (48 million) and NDTV clocking 47 million views according to Vidooly, April 2023 statistics. 

“We are extremely thankful to our viewers for making us the most-watched English news channel on YouTube. At HT Videos our key focus is to scale our unique video content formats like snackable news bites and in-depth explainers that help our viewers catch-up on news whenever they have some time, but also, dig deep and understand a topic in-depth when they need to, and I am glad that our viewers are loving these formats! This year, we plan to further scale up our video production, focusing on regional news, lifestyle content, investment and personal finance explainers and give them many more reasons to keep coming back to HT Videos.” - Puneet Jain, Chief Executive Officer, HT Digital Streams.

Fueled by multi-genre content and experiments with both short and long-form formats, the Hindustan Times’ YouTube channel reported a 2X jump, a similar growth trajectory was observed for the group’s business news and Hindi video handles as well, marking a significant year-on-year growth for the HT Media’s digital video content. 

Hindustan Times is positioning its YouTube handle HT Videos as a go-to source for ‘news and non-news videos on-the-go’ for those with an insatiable hunger for news, and a curiosity to build an in-depth understanding of the world.

With Hindustan Times emerging as India’s No.1 English News destination on YouTube, advertisers can now take advantage of HT Videos' captive audience cohorts with both skippable and non-skippable ads, including digital display options like L-bands or Aston bands. This ensures that viewers get an uninterrupted video experience while brands deliver their messages to engaged audiences. 

“We have introduced custom targeting for our advertisers where they can select specific videos to advertise on, access HT’s premium audience at competitive prices and get 100% SOV on tentpole news events. As a news publisher on YouTube, our advertisers get a brand-safe environment with top of the funnel solutions and creative units like L-Bands, pre-mid rolls, along with multiple in-video touchpoints like title and end cards, sponsored content title, logo and product presence, offering a non-intrusive branding experience. Given that we have full control over this inventory, it enables us to extend lucrative pricing for our long-term advertisers with high volumes”, Mitesh Desai, Head – Sales Excellence, HT Media.

HT Brand Studio, HT Media’s creative content arm, a powerhouse of cutting-edge video production capabilities and editorial excellence, has been working on new-age branded video initiatives to deliver uniquely placed brand integrations. Neighbour’s Kitchen – an award-winning branded web series and the brainchild of HT Brand Studio, has clocked in over 20 Mn+ video views online for Glen, helping the brand reach 53 Mn+ users.

Friday Finance, another bespoke IP by HT Brand Studio and Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, has become a modern-day success on YouTube, captivating a wide audience. The ABBY award winning show was created to impart financial education, about mutual funds, bonds and other financial products, among millennials and Gen-Z audiences. Having completed three successful seasons, it's now gearing up for its highly anticipated Season 4, ready to create new benchmarks in the world of retail finance.