Analysis

YouTube India is now a billion-dollar business. What’s its next play?

Soumya Gupta

July 20, 2022 | 11 Min Read

The video giant has raced from $600 million in annual revenues in 2019 to $1 billion-plus now, with ads being the primary driver. Overall, though, this has been a long journey. How did it get here and what is it trying to do with new ad formats, Shorts and commerce?

Fourteen years after its India launch, YouTube’s annual revenues from the country have topped $1 billion (Rs 7,900 crore) for the first time, said two people aware of the development. This happened four to six months ago, they added, requesting anonymity as the video giant’s parent, Alphabet Inc, avoids disclosing numbers outside of formal announcements.

Selling digital advertisements mainly helped YouTube hit the milestone; user subscriptions are a small slice. The time it needed to reach this financial stage does not detract from its influence or appeal in the country. The platform clung to its prime spot on Indian homescreens during TikTok’s explosive but truncated era. Still, the toil shows how the market can be a land of contradictions.

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