2020 has brought about a significant shift in the online video landscape among Indian internet users. With people spending more time at home, more than 20 million Indians streamed their preferred YouTube content on their connected TVs, indicating a growth of over 40% since May last year, Google India revealed at its annual event YouTube Brandcast 2021. “One of the big reasons why video is becoming important from the point of view of the first handshake among consumers is because stories matter. Video as a storytelling format has emerged as a very interesting format,” Sanjay Gupta, country head and vice president, Google India, said.
What’s more, video is being used by Indians to cope, learn and adapt. For instance, 85% of consumers watch YouTube to relax and unwind while 70% use videos for credible content or sources of information. 65% of consumers use video to learn new skills. Furthermore, the watch time of career videos has grown by more than 60% in May 2021 when compared to the same time last year. Overall, 85% of viewers have used the platform more than ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Interestingly, 93% of YouTube viewers prefer watching content in Indian languages. Besides Hindi, other major regional languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi have started to grow in triple digit numbers over the last few years, Satya Raghavan, director, YouTube Partnerships, said. “Video has become the language that Indians are using,” he added further.
Today, more than 140 YouTube channels have over 10 million subscribers, the company claimed. As of July 2021, videos in the new Shorts player are receiving over 15 billion daily views, it added. “At this point in time, the emphasis is on growing users and viewers for Shorts. As more users come on the platform, we will come up with the right ad format and ways for brands to come on the platform,” Raghavan stated. With YouTube users increasingly utilising the platform for product awareness, research and demos, brands are tapping into the platform to target their customers where they spend time.
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