₹21,000 crore: The amount YouTube paid Indian content creators in last 3 years, says CEO Neal Mohan

Speaking at the WAVES Summit in Mumbai, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan unveiled the platform’s big vision for India. Check details here.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, at the inaugural World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai, revealed major facts and figures about the Indian creator economy.

YouTube is going to invest ₹850 crores over the next two years in India. (Pixabay)

By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

Read moreRead less

Neal mentioned that YouTubers in India uploaded a significant amount of content, with over 100 million channels uploading in the past year alone. Among these, 15,000 creators surpassed the milestone of accumulating a whopping one million subscribers. In doing so, YouTube paid out over ₹21,000 crore to Indian creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years.

YouTube’s Big Investment Plan For India

Neal Mohan also commented on plans to further invest in the Indian creator economy, announcing a commitment of ₹850 crore over the next two years. This investment will be specifically aimed at boosting India’s creator economy.

This comes after Indian content attracted 45 billion hours of watch time from viewers outside of India.

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.”

YouTube Recently Completed 20 Years

YouTube recently turned 20 years old. It all began with a video titled ‘Me at the zoo’, a 19-second clip showing a man documenting his experience in front of elephants at a zoo.

To celebrate this milestone, the video giant is rolling out a host of new features, including personalized radio stations via Ask Music and faster playback options reaching up to 4x speed (with speeds more than 2x now available for mobile Premium users). Additionally, YouTube TV users will soon be able to create their own multiview experiences, starting with non-sports content for select channels.

MOBILE FINDER: iPhone 16 LATEST PRICE, Specs, And More