YouTube will invest 850 crores, aim is to promote Indian creators

YouTube platform finds huge scope in Indian artists and content creators. Keeping this in mind, it has planned to invest Rs 850 crore in India. On Thursday, YouTube Chief Executive Officer Neal Mohan stated that YouTube will invest over Rs 850 crore to give a boost to Indian content creators, artists, and media businesses.

He also mentioned that content produced in India in the previous year was viewed by international viewers for 45 billion hours. And, in three years, YouTube itself has paid out over Rs 21,000 crore to content producers, artists, and media firms in India.

In a session on 'Empowering the Creator Economy in India' on the opening day of the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES), Mohan said that in the next two years, YouTube will invest more than Rs 850 crore to accelerate the growth of Indian creators, artists, and media companies. This will create countless career and business avenues for a vibrant new India. He said Indian creators have the ability to share India's history, culture, and passion across the world.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary leadership has made India a beacon for creators around the world, which is evident from his own remarkable digital presence. He said that with more than 25 million subscribers on YouTube, the Prime Minister has the most YouTube followers than any head of government in the world.

Describing India as a "creator nation", he said last year, over 100 million channels in the country uploaded content on YouTube, of which over 15,000 channels had more than one million subscribers.