YouTube to invest Rs 850 crore in next two years to accelerate growth

MUMBAI: Google-owned popular online video-sharing platform YouTube will make an investment of Rs 850 crore in the next two years to further accelerate the growth of India’s burgeoning creator economy.

This announcement was made Neal Mohan, CEO at YouTube at the first edition of World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 in Mumbai on Thursday.

Delivering his keynote speech at the WAVES 2025, YouTube CEO said that the company has paid Rs 21,000 crore to Indian creators, artists, and media companies in the last three years alone.

WAVES 2025 | YouTube CEO Neal Mohan: Paid ₹21,000 cr to Indian Creators, ₹850 cr more to be Invested

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At the inaugural day of WAVES 2025, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan established India’s emergence as a creator nation, revealing that over 100 million channels in India uploaded content in the past year, with more than 15,000 of these surpassing one million subscribers.

Neal emphasized how YouTube has empowered these creators to transform their passions into successful businesses and cultivate loyal global fandoms. Last year, content produced in India racked up 45 billion hours of watch time from viewers outside the country.

Neal Mohan, CEO at YouTube, said, “YouTube’s ability to connect a creator anywhere with audiences EVERYWHERE has made it a powerful engine of cultural export, and few nations have leveraged this as effectively as India. Today, India isn’t just a world leader for film and music — it’s rapidly becoming what I’m excited to call a “Creator Nation”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the WAVES 2025, India’s first-of-its-kind World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit at the Jio World Centre, Mumbai on Thursday. Laying emphasis on the growth potential of content creation economy, Prime Minister said the time is ripe for the create in India and create for the world.

The current era marks the sunrise era of the ‘Orange economy’ in India, the Prime Minister said adding that the three pillars of the Orange economy are content, creativity and culture.

WAVES 2025 is a four-day summit with tagline “Connecting Creators, Connecting Countries” is poised to position India as a global hub for media, entertainment, and digital innovation by bringing together creators, startups, industry leaders, and policymakers from across the world. (ANI)