Latest news with #MitronPolitan
Mint
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Long-format content consumption growing on YouTube in India as connected TV penetration deepens
New Delhi: As short-form videos dominate smartphones and attention spans shrink, YouTube is seeing a surprising countertrend in India: surging consumption of long-form videos on connected TVs. This unexpected shift, executives say, is helping turn the world's largest open video platform into the country's biggest over-the-top (OTT) service in living rooms. 'While Shorts is growing, the consumption of content longer than 20 minutes on YouTube is actually also growing tremendously," said Gautam Anand, vice-president and managing director, YouTube Asia Pacific at Google. 'As a platform, we historically went from PC to mobile and now, the fastest growing surface for us is the living room." Read this | Content studios turn to YouTube to launch new originals despite surge in premium streaming platforms The rise of connected TV sets in urban India is reshaping how content is programmed and marketed, with platforms increasingly targeting family-oriented content over mobile-personalized fare. According to media consulting firm Ormax, 36% of the audience for subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services in urban India now uses connected TVs regularly. 'Family-oriented content, such as movies, reality shows, and children's programming, is often consumed together, fostering shared experiences. The multi-profile features of streaming platforms also allow multiple members of the family to create personalized recommendations, making CTV an ideal medium for group entertainment," said Kaushik Das, founder and CEO of AAO NXT, an Odia-language OTT platform. Read this | Creators expect increase in income after YouTube allows them to place third-party product links in their videos India is now among the top three global markets, alongside Japan and the US, where YouTube ranks as the largest OTT platform on connected TVs, Anand added in an interview with Mint. The TV comeback The platform's deepening presence in living rooms reflects India's rapid expansion in connected TV penetration, fuelled by cheap data, affordable smart TVs, and a broadening appetite for premium content beyond traditional OTT paywalls. To be sure, YouTube already commands a staggering 92% share of all video consumption in India, according to the 2024 Ficci-EY report, leaving paid and ad-supported streaming rivals to jostle for the remainder. But long-form TV consumption is creating new pockets of stickiness. It's also influencing how creators think about content. Some studios that have found success on subscription OTTs are now debuting new shows directly on YouTube. For instance, Applause Entertainment recently launched a kids' animation channel, ApplaToon, on YouTube. The Viral Fever (TVF), known for hits like Panchayat, has put out new series such as MitronPolitan and Very Parivarik on the platform. As YouTube seeks to scale its pan-India appeal, a key enabler has been its multi-language audio feature, which lets creators add dubbed audio tracks in different languages without creating separate channels. The move is helping content from one part of the country travel seamlessly across others, such as Tamil or Telugu-language videos finding new audiences in the Hindi belt. People are discovering languages and personalities, and thanks to the multi-language audio feature, creators can now offer dubbed versions of their content, reaching out to newer audiences without knowing those languages, Anand said. Read this | YouTube AI dubbing raises creator concerns over language advantage This dovetails with broader trends in Indian media: the nationwide popularity of southern films, the rising consumption of regional content, and the increasing linguistic fluidity of younger digital audiences. Beyond ads: The new creator economy While advertising remains a core revenue engine, YouTube is betting heavily on diversified monetization for creators. Memberships, where creators can offer exclusive content to paying subscribers, are gaining traction in India. So is YouTube Shopping, which lets creators embed products and storefronts directly into their videos. 'There are multiple ways in which our partners and creators can generate revenue and we're unique in the fact that we're the only ones that share most of that back with our creators, as well. So we've not only set the foundations of the creator economy, but will also be the ones continuing to fuel that into the future," Anand said. YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium are also growing steadily, Anand said, offering users ad-free viewing, offline access, and background playback. While Google doesn't break out India-specific revenue, executives say these services are helping monetize high-intent users beyond ads. YouTube Premium grants ad-free viewing across all of YouTube, including YouTube Music, and allows for offline downloads and background playback of both videos and music. YouTube Music Premium, on the other hand, specifically focuses on the music experience within the YouTube Music app and website, providing ad-free listening, offline downloads, and background playback, but only for music content. To reinforce this flywheel, YouTube is doubling down on creator investments in India. Earlier this month, CEO Neal Mohan announced a planned investment of over ₹850 crore over the next two years to boost India's creator economy. More than 100 million channels uploaded content in the country last year, with over 15,000 of them crossing 1 million subscribers, Mohan said at the inaugural World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai. Also read | The consumer longs for humanity in music, says YouTube's head of music Content from India is also travelling far: it racked up 45 billion hours of watch time from international viewers last year, according to the company. For YouTube, these point to India's evolving role in the global video economy. It's no longer just a massive consumption market; it's becoming a content and monetization hub that's setting the pace for how YouTube adapts to the future of TV.
Mint
12-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Content studios turn to YouTube to launch new originals despite surge in premium streaming platforms
YouTube has become the preferred debut platform for some originals put out by content studios despite the lure of video streaming companies Netflix, Prime Video and JioHotstar in the country. While Aditya Birla-owned Applause Entertainment has launched a kids' animation channel ApplaToon on YouTube, The Viral Fever (TVF) has dropped shows such as MitronPolitan and Very Parivarik on the platform even after the success of originals such as Panchayat on OTT platforms. Experts said programming that doesn't require massive upfront investment can find its true value on YouTube, where the company can own the brand and build a dedicated fandom, unlike deals with OTT platforms that often require giving up on intellectual property (IP). Partnerships on YouTube are based on revenue-sharing arrangements, unlike streaming services, many of which are cutting down on budgets and negotiating hard margins on productions. 'For premium shows, subscription-based streaming platforms deliver targeted reach and offer a better monetisation model to the studios. By contrast, YouTube's ad-supported, open-access model offers unparalleled scale and speed, especially for kids' IP as over 60% of kids watch animation there," said Prasoon Garg, chief business officer of Applause Entertainment. Also Read | YouTube invested ₹210 billion in India's Creator Economy, commits ₹8.5 billion more Launching shows on its YouTube channel lets the company publish without platform curation, leverage real-time analytics and viewer feedback to refine episodes, and cultivate a passionate fan community that can power downstream monetisation through licensing deals, subsequent seasons, games, brand partnerships and merchandise, Garg added. In an earlier interview with Mint, Vijay Koshy, president of TVF, had said the company is developing some shows irrespective of whether there is an immediate OTT buyer or not because it believes some stories need to be told. Wider reach 'There are times when platforms don't see immediate value, so we go ahead and make it on YouTube or any other AVoD (advertising-based video on demand) platform," Koshy had said, adding that subsequent seasons of several shows are picked up by OTT platforms once they debut on YouTube. Also Read | OTT platforms gain ground in India, but YouTube's dominance endures Experts emphasised that YouTube's ad-supported platform allows anyone to upload content, removes subscription barriers and promotes content on both local and global recommendation feeds, unlocking far wider reach. On the other hand, OTT services depend largely on paid subscribers and a curated content line-up. On the revenue side, YouTube follows a long-tail model: studios earn through ad revenue sharing, brand integration, memberships and commerce features that grow over time. OTT platforms, in contrast, provide upfront fees, giving predictability but capping long-term upsides. Nitin Burman, group chief revenue officer of Balaji Telefilms Ltd, agreed that YouTube provides the maximum reach to content creators. From niche to mass, there is an audience for every content type on Youtube. As an AVoD platform, it penetrates deep into the country and gives a chance to create content that is tailor-made on the basis of region, language, and so on, he said. Also Read | YouTubers, digital content creators struggle to find mainstream draw 'The choice of launch platform depends on the content's intent, format, and audience. Launching originals directly on YouTube, especially for genres that resonate with mass, digital-first audiences, can be an effective strategy," said Saurabh Srivastava, chief operating officer - digital business at Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. 'It's not just about views anymore; it's about building communities around content. YouTube allows us to create that loop. In a market like India, where content consumption is diverse and evolving by the day, being platform-agnostic yet audience-first is key, and that's exactly the balance we're building."
