YouTube is seeing a massive surge in India with 180 million monthly active users on mobile devices alone.

The video sharing website also has 14 Indian independent content creators on its platform with one million subscribers each.

“The content ecosystem has matured in the last year due to improved internet access. With over 300 million smart-phone users in the country, creators are coming from tier-2 and -3 cities,” David Powell, Director, Online Partnerships and Development, YouTube, APAC, told BusinessLine .

Other global digital players are also witnessing growth here. While Facebook had announced 184 million monthly active users in India in December, WhatsApp crossed the 200 million mark in February.

The growth is being driven by steep cuts in data pricing following the launch of 4G services by Reliance Jio. Digital players are also building local content to attract a larger audience.

Powell said that mobile devices contribute to 80 per cent of YouTube’s total watch time in India. That watch time is growing at a staggering 400 per cent year on year.

Earlier this year, YouTube had announced that its 1 billion-plus users worldwide watch a billion hours of video daily.

Powell said that in 2016, YouTube had witnessed over 500 content creators across India get over 1 lakh subscribers, meaning at least one channel is crossing this threshold every day.

“We are ramping up our ecosystem to make India a successful content creator for communities in Asia. We will ramp up our efforts in creator community events across the country with a big focus,” he added.

Fanfest across nine cities

One of the key events that the company holds is the YouTube Fanfest. In its fourth edition, the Fanfest gives an opportunity for creators to interact with fans.

“We will be taking the festival to nine cities across India,” Powell added.

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