India is among our top 10 markets: YouTube's David Powell

YouTube held its FanFest in Mumbai on Friday and Tokyo-based David Powell, director of online partner development, YouTube, Asia Pacific, played festival director. He spoke to Suman Layak on how YouTube is growing and what it means for YouTubers. Edited excerpts:

How does India compare with the rest of the world as a market for YouTube?
India is among our top 10 markets. Around 180 million from India view YouTube every month. We have seen a huge growth in audience as well as content creators. And the best thing is people are not being limited by the equipment they have.

How does YouTube compare with other platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Vimeo for uploading videos?
People put their content in various places. What we see is that they do it to promote their videos, while they consider YouTube as their home. We are holding 50 events across the Asia Pacific region to share best practices among content creators. We also do programmes for content creators that help them manage their accounts or pay their taxes. So while they may put up their videos anywhere, YouTube remains home.

Also read:​ Can turning into a professional YouTuber earn you a steady income?

While YouTube has worked well as a stepping stone to bigger things for people in music or entertainment, what about those who are creating informative or educative videos for whom advertisement earnings are the mainstay? Do you see them growing bigger too?
I always talk about the example of Michelle Phan, YouTube’s original content creator on beauty and make up. She would produce videos like ‘How to get ready in 20 minutes’. She has 10 million subscribers on You-Tube and has now gone on to become a successful businesswoman, starting off with curated make-up kits, her company is worth $500 million and was covered by Forbes in their 30 Under 30 list. People are branching out in India too — for example, BB Ki Vines now has its own merchandise.