YouTube’s creators contributed over Rs 10,000 cr to India’s GDP: Ishan John Chatterjee

“YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed more than Rs 10,000 crore to India’s GDP in 2021 and supported the equivalent of seven and a half lakh full time jobs,” this was shared by Ishan John Chatterjee, Director, India YouTube, in his keynote address at FICCI Frames 2023, which got underway in Mumbai yesterday (May 3, 2023).

Speaking about the relation between YouTube and its creators over the years, Chatterjee said, “In the last 15 years, creators in India have turned to YouTube as a stage to share their skills and their stories. A single storyteller can move an entire community. I am really privileged to see so many such storytellers in action every day.”

He cited the examples of an 80-year old grandmother from West Bengal sharing her recipe videos on YouTube, preserving the food traditions and culture of the region; Santosh and Aakash Jadhav, two farmers from Maharashtra, who are sharing the latest tips on agri tech to the farming community, thus boosting the productivity of other farmers; Khaja Mohiuddin’s videos on YouTube, which are helping feed hundreds of orphans in Hyderabad; Malal, who is helping fuel the aspirations of thousands of Tamil speakers through her English speaking courses. “This is the power of the creative economy. And that economy is coming of age today in India,” Chatterjee emphasised.

Speaking about how post the emergence of smartphones and cheap data has worked in favour of YouTube, he said, “Today, with the ubiquity of smartphones, cheap data, and of other emerging technologies, stories are traveling farther and wider than ever before. They have been consumed by more people in deeply personal ways. Anyone with a mobile device can not just create a video, but they can review it, they can recreate it into different content formats, they can react to it.”

Chatterjee highlighted some global key stats, “Globally, in the last three years, YouTube has paid out over $50 billion to creators and partners all over the world. In fact, in one calendar year, between July 2021 and June 2022, we paid out over $6 billion to the music industry. And over 30% of that came from user generated content.”

He further added, “YouTube already offers the widest Creative Palette for creators amongst all platforms. We are working to make content creation across formats. Whether it is bots, to Shorts to audio, so that our creators can find new ways to express themselves and build audiences.”

The top 1,000 songs on Shorts on YouTube have over 280 billion views globally.

When it comes to commercial success, the digital behaviour of Indians continues to evolve. As more and more Indians participate in online commerce, new business models will emerge. And as that happens, YouTube will continue to offer more opportunities for creators to monetize their content outside of ads, by expanding our subscriptions business by investing in shopping, he added.

He added that YouTube continually expands its our fan-funded monetisation options. “In December 2022, 6 million viewers across the world bought channel membership on YouTube, which was 20% above the previous period.”

Chatterjee is very bullish on creators, stating, “I am so encouraged by the tremendous impact that our community of passionate creators continue to have. The collective might of this cohort of creative entrepreneurs has the potential to impact our country’s economic growth, will pay some job creation and to expand our influence across the world and at YouTube even as we continue to invest in the creator economy. I am 100% sure that our fantastic amazing creators will continue to put India on the roadmap.”