Bharti Singh reveals 40% of her income is from YouTube channel: ‘Still eat with hands in five-star hotels and business class flights'

Indian Express

16 hours ago

Comedian Bharti Singh opened up about her relationship with money, and said that even though she has seen great financial success over the years, she remains a simple person at heart. Bharti hails from humble beginnings, and experienced great difficulties while growing up in Punjab. Her father died when she was two, and her mother had to work as a house help to make ends meet. But she encouraged Bharti to take a risk and go to Mumbai when work beckoned, and this decision changed Bharti's life. Now, Bharti is one of the highest-paid personalities on Indian television, while also balancing a successful side hustle as a vlogger on YouTube.
In an appearance on Raj Shamani's podcast, Bharti spoke about her YouTube journey, and said that she earns a surprisingly large chunk of her income from her online presence. 'I make 60% of my income via television work, and 40% from YouTube. I can't believe it. If you'd told me that I would get paid for doing something as basic as cleaning a microphone and posting it… It was Haarsh (husband Haarsh Limbachiya) who told me that TV isn't going to last, and that I should focus on YouTube. At first, I didn't quite understand it. But then, I started enjoying it. And then, I started making money, which was even better. I've learned one thing; if you're dedicated and hard-working, YouTube will be just as dedicated to you.'
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Bharti's channel has 7 million subscribers, putting her in the upper echelon of Indian content creators. By comparison, Flying Beast has around 9 million subscribers, and Raj Shamani himself has 12 million. 'Sometimes, I feel like putting out four vlogs in a day. I have so much content, way more than 12 minutes can accommodate. I started YouTube a little over two years ago, and now I have over 7 million subscribers. I used to upload one vlog a week earlier. But the money is good; still, it's not as good as TV. I can earn on TV in one day what I make on YouTube in a month. I love both mediums. Now, I feel strange when I don't share a vlog.'
Speaking about her relationship with money now, Bharti said, 'Yes, I travel business class and stay at five-star hotels, but I still eat with my hands. That will never change. I haven't changed. I still crave Amritsar. But I haven't been able to visit in three years. That's the thing about Mumbai; if you're a hard-worker, this city won't let you leave. Whenever I make a plan to visit Amritsar, I get some new work.'
Several of Bharti's peers have also embarked upon YouTube careers. Archana Puran Singh and her family also share daily vlogs, and are inching towards the 1 million subscribers mark. In a recent video, Archana said that she was inspired to start vlogging by Farah Khan. 'During lockdown, I started posting small videos with my house-help, Bhagyashree, on Instagram because I had too much time on my hands. People called me up and told me that what I was doing was called vlogging, and I didn't even know. The videos were going viral, and Bhagyashree became world-famous. So Farah Khan suggested to me that I should start a proper channel. We have done theatre, films, TV, and OTT. The only thing that was left was having a presence on YouTube,' Archana said.
In an interview, Parmeet admitted that vlogging has turned out to be a more successful venture than even his acting career. 'It has proved to be more fruitful, definitely. We started it because we believe that this is the future and we wanted to be a part of it. The entertainment landscape is changing rapidly,' he said in an interview with SCREEN.