YouTube Becomes Key Revenue Driver For India’s Music Labels And Media Companies

YouTube has deepened its role in India’s cultural and economic landscape, positioning itself as far more than a video platform. Its new “Impact in India” report, prepared with Oxford Economics, presents the platform as a crucial revenue engine for music labels, media organisations, small businesses and creators of every scale.

The report estimates that YouTube contributed over Rs 16,000 crore to India’s GDP in 2024 and supported more than 9.3 lakh full-time equivalent jobs. Alongside this, YouTube has announced a fresh Rs 850 crore commitment to accelerate growth for creators, artists and media partners over the next two years.

In his foreword to the report, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan describes India as a “Creator Nation,” noting that the platform has fundamentally reshaped how entertainment is produced and consumed. He highlights that YouTube’s global payments to creators have grown every year for more than a decade, with the pace of payouts rising sharply in the last three years.

The report shows just how embedded YouTube has become in India’s music and media ecosystem. A large majority of music companies credit YouTube with driving revenue, building global reach and helping them break new artists. Small businesses have also turned the platform into a growth engine, with many saying it has directly contributed to increased sales and visibility. Media organisations rely on YouTube for scale and speed, especially during breaking news and high-pressure coverage cycles.

Beyond its commercial impact, the platform is also framed as a soft power force. Users say YouTube helps them discover diverse regional creators, preserve local culture and access credible information in moments of crisis. Its influence in education is equally significant, with teachers and parents both reporting that YouTube enhances classroom learning, student engagement and everyday knowledge-building.

The economic impact extends directly to creators as well. YouTube says it has paid more than Rs 21,000 crore to creators, artists and media companies in India over the past three years through its Partner Programme, which now offers nine monetisation streams. Nearly two-thirds of creators who earn on YouTube say it is their primary source of income, and more than 65,000 Indian channels made over Rs 1 lakh in 2024 alone, a sign of how quickly creator careers have become mainstream.

The report also highlights individual success stories that illustrate how creators have grown into fully fledged businesses. Channels like Crazy XYZ, Fit Tuber, Hanumankind, Labour Law Advisor and many others have scaled beyond videos into product lines, courses, studios and brand partnerships, often employing large teams and building multi-platform enterprises. These stories underline a common growth pattern: creators start small, hit one or two breakthrough moments, and then expand into multiple revenue models that sit on top of YouTube’s advertising income.

For brands, the report serves as a reminder that the most effective partnerships come from working with creators who operate like media companies rather than influencers. With its Rs 850 crore investment, expanding monetisation tools and AI-led production features, YouTube is clearly steering India’s creator ecosystem toward a more professionalised and sustainable future.

Taken together, the findings make a broader argument: YouTube has become a central pillar of India’s content economy,a place where creativity, commerce, education and cultural exchange intersect at national scale.