YouTube’s 2025 India Impact Report says its creative ecosystem contributed over Rs 18,000 crore to GDP and supported more than 960,000 full-time equivalent jobs, while 73% of monetising creators surveyed said YouTube was their primary source of income.
YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over Rs 18,000 crore to India’s GDP in 2025 and supported the equivalent of more than 960,000 full-time jobs, according to YouTube’s 2025 India Impact Report, which draws on research by Oxford Economics. That is up from over Rs 16,000 crore and more than 930,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2024.
The numbers cover economic activity around YouTube channels, not only the people appearing on camera. YouTube says the ecosystem includes cinematographers, sound engineers, scriptwriters and production professionals, reflecting how larger channels are increasingly operating with teams rather than as one-person businesses. The report also says 73% of creators earning money from YouTube described the platform as their primary source of income.
Creator businesses are getting deeper, not just bigger
India remains YouTube’s largest market, with more than half a billion users. More than 20,000 Indian channels had crossed one million subscribers by June 2026, according to YouTube. The company also said more than 200,000 channels in India earned money on the platform for the first time over the past year. Taken together with the income survey, the numbers show growth at both ends of the market: more creators entering monetisation, while established channels build larger businesses around their audiences.
Jobs around creators are spreading beyond metros
The report points to Jaipur, Lucknow and Kochi among cities where creator-led production is building demand for technical skills outside India’s biggest metros. Monetising creators on YouTube supported more than 300,000 apprentices over the past year, according to the report. Indian channels are also reaching audiences outside the country: more than 15% of watch time for content produced by Indian channels comes from viewers abroad, giving creator businesses a measurable export audience alongside their domestic reach.
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This is YouTube’s footprint, not the size of India’s entire creator economy
One distinction matters: the GDP and job figures estimate the contribution of YouTube’s creative ecosystem. They are not a valuation of India’s entire creator economy, which also includes activity across other platforms, agencies, brands, commerce and off-platform businesses. The report is most useful as a measure of how much economic activity now sits around one major video platform.
