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India a key focus market for YouTube: APAC Vice-President Gautam Anand
India is a major focus market for YouTube across all its initiatives, as demonstrated by the platform launching YouTube Shorts and the YouTube Create app first in India, said Gautam Anand, YouTube's Vice-President for the Asia Pacific region.
'It is a huge focus market for us in everything that we're doing. For example, YouTube Shorts was first launched in India before anywhere else in the world. Also, our YouTube Create app was launched here first. India is one of the few markets globally where we are focused on shopping and commerce,' Anand told Business Standard on the sidelines of the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES).
He further added that initially, YouTube's shopping and commerce model was centred on the US, South Korea, and India. Recently, the platform has added Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets to this list.
Its branding initiative is also seeing strong focus in India.
'It's one of the few markets where we're really focused. Our attention is here because we understand that India not only has massive scale, but also tremendous growth potential,' he said.
Recently, YouTube partnered with Flipkart to create new opportunities for creators to earn revenue through affiliate fees. This comes at a time when brands are increasingly allocating budgets towards influencer collaborations and branded content.
'That's an area we're also trying to develop—how we can do more for our creators and foster connections between brands and creators. That will become increasingly important for the platform,' Anand noted.
Globally, YouTube has 125 million premium users. While Anand did not reveal India-specific numbers, he expressed strong optimism about growth in premium subscriptions.
'I would just say that I'm super excited about the growth prospects for premium subscriptions here. I think there's a lot more room, and later this year, we'll be announcing a few initiatives that will hopefully help drive that,' he added.
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