Not only on Twitter and Facebook, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is popular among YouTube subscribers as well.

The PM has emerged as the third most popular leader on YouTube, according to a study by Burson-Marsteller. Leading the popularity charts is the White House, with close to 700,000 subscribers, followed by US President Barack Obama, who has 530,000 subscribers. Modi stands third with 300,000 subscribers.

The study, called “World Leaders on YouTube”, was carried out earlier this month. It indicates that 148 of the 193 UN member states maintain an official YouTube channel.

“The White House has the highest number subscribers as well as interactions, while the Barack Obama campaign channel has the most video views, the highest average views, likes and interactions per video,” a statement said.

“The British Monarchy’s Royal Channel and the Vatican have 150,000 and 140,000 subscribers, respectively,” it added.

The study also noted that governments mainly use the platform as a one-way channel rather than as a medium for engagement with communities. While some leaders use it to communicate live on the platform and answer questions, others largely use YouTube as a video archive and search engine and have disabled the comments, like and unlike functions.

Donald A Baer, Worldwide Chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller, said: “World Leaders on YouTube is the first study to look at how political leaders around the world are using YouTube as a communications tool to reach the public.

“The extensive use of YouTube by world leaders emphasises the growing power video content is playing in the communications field and the increasing shift in efforts to get messages across to audiences around the world.”

The White House also leads the most engaged ranking, with more than 3.5 million comments, likes and dislikes on its videos.