YouTube Shorts, launched globally from India, has garnered trillions of views in under four years, Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, said at YouTube’s flagship Brandcast event. He also highlighted the platform’s significant growth in the country and noted that YouTube’s Connected TV (CTV) views in India have quadrupled over the past three years.
Mohan highlighted that creators in this country are doing more than just sharing stories, they are exporting Indian culture to the world. More than 11,000 Indian channels have over a million subscribers and that is a 50% increase year over year.
“When I think back to when I started at YouTube nine years ago, that number is even more impressive. Today, there are 11,000, but when I joined YouTube, only 11 channels had more than a million subscribers,” Mohan said.
“These creators and artists have business strategies, writers’ rooms, and production teams. They’re creating programs that people love to watch. And along the way, they’re redefining entertainment, news, and education. And they’re driving growth on YouTube. We’re number one in reach and watch time in India. And we just passed a huge milestone. Shorts, which we first launched in India, now has trillions of views here. Indian creators are making videos inspired by local trends that go on to define global culture,” he added.
Furthermore, he went on to say that fans come together on YouTube to celebrate what they love…like cricket. Cricket videos had more than 50 billion views over the last year. This includes all the moments that build community around cricket, like livestream watchalongs of the T20 World Cup win, creators reenacting big IPL matches, and videos that show players’ lives off the field, like a wedding proposal.
The momentum of fandom continues to drive growth on YouTube. And more and more, fans want to watch creators making exceptional programming not just on their computers or their phones, but also on the biggest screen in their house.
“YouTube is the most watched streaming service on CTVs here. And our views on CTVs in India have quadrupled in the last three years. This phenomenal growth is just one reason I’m excited about what’s coming next at YouTube,” Mohan said.
Furthermore, he added, “In the past year you have heard a lot about generative AI. At first, it was mostly just a concept. And today, I am here to tell you the future has arrived. We’ve launched AI tools that empower human creativity. Just last month, we started to roll out Dream Screen here. It lets you create AI-generated backgrounds for Shorts just by typing an idea. It’s pretty awesome.”
Mohan emphasised that this is just the beginning and they will continue to develop AI technology that builds on their track record of responsibility and pushes the boundaries of creative expression at a big scale.
Apart from this, YouTube has also introduced new ad formats for both Shorts and Connected TV. For Connected TV, these formats include pause ads that engage viewers during content breaks and branded QR codes aimed at expanding ad reach through premium OTT platforms.
Additionally, YouTube is enhancing Shorts with new interactive features, including gesture-based likes, swipes, stickers, and animated image ads. These updates are designed to boost viewer engagement and elevate the short-form video experience.
Moreover, YouTube is testing a new tool integrated with Google Gemini within YouTube Studio to assist creators in generating more content ideas.
The “Brainstorm with Gemini” feature provides YouTube creators with prompts, trend notes, concepts and thumbnail suggestions derived from Google Search activity. Available to select users within YouTube Studio, this tool aims to enhance content performance. Gemini’s additional prompts offer insights to enhance creator content and understand current audience interests.
Brainstorm with Gemini is akin to YouTube’s AI-powered content inspiration tool, launched in testing in May. This feature offers creators video topic ideas based on audience interests and generates an outline of talking points to help kick-start the creation process.
