Growing popularity of user generated content continues to boost YouTube’s creative ecosystem’s contribution to the Indian economy. YouTube announced the findings of the latest Oxford Economics study that says in 2021 the online video sharing and social media platform’s creative ecosystem contributed over Rs 10000 crore to the Indian economy and supported close to 7.5 lakh full-time equivalent jobs in India in 2021.
The study was put together by surveying over 5,000 Indian creators, 500 Indian businesses and over 4,000 Indian users to understand how the ecosystem adds value to the economy and impacts people’s lives.
Just earlier this year, YouTube had released a report on similar lines that said its contribution in the space was Rs 6,800 crore in 2020.
The economic impact shows up in four ways according to Oxford Economics. The four ways are direct, indirect, induced, and catalytic impacts which includes creators’ earnings through the platform, their spends in the supply chain and revenue earned from other sources, including product sales, brand partnerships, or live performance engagements.
In an interview with Storyboard18, Ajay Vidyasagar, Director – South, SouthEast Asia and APAC Emerging Markets, YouTube had 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.
“We have come a long way in this journey and remain committed to introducing new ways for creators to engage with their audiences, across languages, and grow their revenues,” Vidyasagar said.
The company also announced new products and features for the platform in India. It includes a product called Courses that would focus on educational content. Courses that will be launched in three markets globally including India, South Korea and US will open up a new monetization channel for creators.
India is one of the markets for Courses’ pilot rollout owing to the fact that there are 60 million plus videos that are related to digital skills or subjects taught in school. The study Oxford Economics say that one out of two working Indians used YouTube to develop newer professional skills in 2021.
The other new feature is mostly for leading healthcare providers in the country wherein they would be able to create local language health content with an AI-enabled solution, Aloud.
Aloud will help creators to deliver multilingual content with easy dub and translate features.