YouTube for Learning: Investing in growing learning content

With more resources, mentorship and funding for our Education & Learning creators

Sandeep Singh Dhillon, a successful goat farmer from Sirsa (Haryana), currently rearing more than 100 goats in his farm, turned to Darshan – Farming Leader YouTube channel to learn new techniques for raising and breeding goats. He got inspired by Darshan and started creating more farming related content on his SR Commercial Goat Farm. Today, he has 44K+ subscribers, and is helping other inquisitive farmers on newer breeding methods, goat rearing, animal health, and more. And Sandeep is not alone! 

Today, YouTube reaches over 265 million monthly active users in India, who come to the platform for entertainment, infotainment and edutainment. In fact, our incredible video library is emerging as the largest supplementary learning platform, with learning videos generating hundreds of millions of views on YouTube everyday. Whether it’s learning to make a robot or how to start training for a marathon, lessons in math, science and literature or music and dance tutorials, so many of you are turning to YouTube to feed your curious minds and learn something new.

But learning is no longer an urban phenomenon. Today, India’s Internet user base is spread well beyond the top 8 metros, and we’re seeing incredible viewership coming from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. There is an incredible demand for content across different topics in local Indian languages like Government and Public Service entrance exams, English language tutorials, engaging educational content on science and maths, and even unique content such as farming, photography, cricket and even financial literacy.

Many of these learning stories are powered by an incredible community of creators like Pratibha's Music, Singh Freestylers, Vitamin Stree and Mad Stuff With Rob whose videos have demonstrated the appeal of content that enriches as well as entertains. Learning content on YouTube is growing at a supersonic rate! Wifi Study, the largest learning content channel in India, live streams upto 30 videos a day, with live Q&A, and crossed 9 million subscribers this year.

We are committed  to grow the learning community in India. Here’s more on the steps we are taking:

Expanding resources and support for Education and Learning Creators 

Last year in December, we hosted our first EduCon in India where our vibrant community of learning creators joined us for a day of learning from experts, mentors and peers, and networking with other learning creators from across the country. 

This year too, we got together with over 200 Learning Creators for the 2nd edition of EduCon in India. During the day we heard many inspiring stories of Creators taking that first step when they started their channel, how they overcame many challenges, what motivated them to navigate through the multiple disappointments, finding a community, and ultimately what success means to them. Moreover there were curated sessions on livestreaming, alternate monetization, research and credibility, and content best practices, as well as production fundamentals.

Funding Learning Content

We’re also supporting local creators with funds to develop high-quality learning content, we have already funded eight creators from India -- ExamFear Education Hindi, Learn Engineering, Don't Memorise, Study IQ Education, D'art of Science, Learnex - English Lessons Through Hindi, GetSetFlySCIENCE, and Let's Make Engineering Simple. This fund is supporting the development of high-quality learning content, covering topics like English language training, environmental science, political science, calculus, genetics, chemistry in English, Hindi and Tamil. Some of the work of these creators have already been made available online, and there is lots of exciting content in the pipeline. 

Introducing Learning Playlists

We recently introduced Learning Playlists to provide a dedicated learning environment for people who come to YouTube to learn. 10 of these are from India, covering a variety of categories from academic topics in English and Hindi, such as calculus, chemistry, and political science, to building English Vocabulary and Pronunciation lessons. More playlists coming soon!

On a personal note, Education is and has been a part of my life in more ways than one. I was always inspired by my mother, who started the school I studied in and I grew up watching her create a small world of learning there. Today I am equally inspired as I watch thousands of creators create their worlds of learning on YouTube.