YouTube creators contributed ₹6,800 crore to Indian economy in 2020: Oxford Economics study

The study, based on surveys in 2021 with more than 6,000 Indian users and businesses, highlighted 6.83 lakh full-time equivalent jobs generated by the ecosystem

The creator economy in the country has the potential to emerge as a soft power impacting economic growth, job creation, and even cultural influence, says YouTube’s Ajay Vidyasagar | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Special Correspondent

The creator ecosystem at YouTube contributed an estimated ₹6,800 crore to the Indian GDP and generated more than 6.83 lakh full-time equivalent jobs in India in 2020, according to a report by Oxford Economics released on Thursday.

The study is based on surveys in 2021, with more than 6,000 Indian users and businesses.

“Now, for the first time we have a deeper sense of how our creative ecosystem connects to communities across the country. We asked the experts at Oxford Economics to measure the real impact and influence of YouTube’s creator economy in 2020,” Ajay Vidyasagar, regional director, APAC, YouTube Partnerships, said.

Titled ‘A Platform for Indian Opportunity: Assessing the Economic, Societal and Cultural Impact of YouTube in India’, the report was released by YouTube.

“The creator economy in the country has the potential to emerge as a soft power impacting economic growth, job creation, and even cultural influence. As our creators and artists build the next generation of media companies that are connecting with a global audience, their impact on the economy’s overall success will only continue to accelerate,” Mr. Vidyasagar added.

He added that with the number of channels in India with more than 100,000 subscribers now at 40,000, marking a growth in excess of 45% year-on-year, more Indian creators are finding opportunities and audiences on YouTube, often leading to new doorways away from the platform.

“Today, the number of channels earning at least ₹100,000 in revenue has increased 60% year on year [as of June 2021]. This continues to motivate more creative thinkers and doers, from across all backgrounds and geographies, to find their voice and build new ventures on YouTube,” he said.

The study by Oxford Economics combines YouTube-driven advertising revenues, with other related revenues, such as non-advertising revenues [eg, subscriptions and alternative monetisation], and off-platform revenues [fan-meetups and sponsorships].

Noting that the growing YouTube community generated ‘a huge amount of economic value in India’, not just for creators but also for businesses, employees and consumers across the country, the report said that the principal source of YouTube’s economic impact is the revenue the platform redistributes to its creators, which can include ad sales, payouts from eight alternative monetisation features such as channel memberships and Super Chat, and royalty payments paid to music and media companies.

“In producing content for YouTube, creators spend money on goods and services in their supply chains, which also stimulates an indirect economic impact. In turn, creators and other employees of YouTube’s creative ecosystem, or its supply chain (including video editors, graphic designers, producers etc.), go on to spend their earnings. This activity creates a further induced economic impact in the economy,” it added.

Oxford Economics also estimated revenues that content creators earn from other sources that are stimulated by their YouTube presence. This includes increased product sales, brand partnerships, or live performance engagements. “These ‘off-platform’ revenues create a catalytic impact on the economy, stimulating additional indirect and induced impacts through supply chain activity and wage expenditure. The YouTube creative ecosystem’s total economic impact refers to the sum of its direct, indirect, induced, and catalytic impacts,” the report added.