At the 2018 Google for India event, Google announced key usage metrics for YouTube. The video streaming service has seen a monumental uptick in usage in India over the last two years on the back of affordable 4G plans, which in turn led to a wave of new creators joining the platform. YouTube started prioritising local language content in recent years, and the result is that over 95% of all video consumption on the platform in India is from vernacular languages.
YouTube currently has 245 million active monthly users from India, making it one of the platform's largest markets. Google rolled out the ability to download videos in the country back in 2014, a feature that has made its way to other markets.
With 4G easily accessible across all parts of the country, more and more users are starting to make their way to the platform. Online video drove over 75% of all data traffic in India, and Google is projecting that YouTube in India will go up to 500 million active users in just two years' time.
Google is also investing heavily in localising search in India, along with voice search. The Google Assistant now works in Hindi and Marathi, and will support seven other Indic languages later this year.
Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor covering Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone manufacturers, and writes about the semiconductor industry, storage servers, and audio products. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.
