Tamil YouTube channels - General information
The increase in demand and viewership of Tamil
language channels is opening up fresh opportunities for video-sharing platform
YouTube.
We have all watched Elon Musk’s SpaceX defy the laws
of logic with its innovating concepts like reusable boosters (the ones that
return to land after launching a rocket instead of diving into the sea).
But what if someone told you the basic principle
behind this technology is similar to balancing a stick on your index finger
(aligning the object’s mass in line with its centre of gravity)?
Breaking down complex concepts into easily graspable
bits of science in the Tamil language is what Premanand Sethurajan’s YouTube
channel, Let’s Make Engineering Simple (LMES), is adept at. When he started on
YouTube, almost five years ago, videos by LMES hardly received 100 views.
Today, the average viewership is upwards of 1.5 lakh. At over 9 lakh users, the
channel’s subscription base too has grown substantially.
The case is similar with Nakkalites, a popular Tamil
language entertainment channel on YouTube. Founded by Prasanna Balachandran and
27-year-old visual communication graduate, Rajeshwar K, Nakkalites currently
boast a subscription count north of two million. Almost all of their videos
earn an average views count of one million.
Big bang model
The immense growth in popularity of Tamil language
YouTube channels has not gone unnoticed by the California-based video sharing
platform, which recently organised a YouTube Pop-Up space in Chennai, where it
invited hundreds of content creators to collaborate and create videos while
sharing information on their processes. “In 2018, we had only 30 Tamil creators
who had crossed the one-million subscriber mark, but in less than a year, this
number has grown to 94,” says Satya Raghavan, director, YouTube content
partnerships.
“Through Pop-Up, we want to continue to invest in
growth of creators and handhold aspiring ones to learn from the creator
community,” he adds. LMES was not a direct beneficiary of Pop-Up spaces through
its formative years, but, adds Premanand, the event allows content creators
like him to meet new people, and even opens up cross-collaboration
opportunities.
While one of YouTube’s revenue share models suggests
that it splits 55% of advertising revenue with creators, channels like LMES
have now outgrown the platform. “I cannot sustain the company with just the
ad-share revenue model from YouTube,” says Premanand, who has recently launched
a learning app and hosts workshops and events in collaboration with schools and
other educational institutions.
Nakkalites, too, has organically managed to grow to
a level where it can resist corporate overtures, the kind that saw channels
like Put Chutney being absorbed into content creation umbrella firms like
Culture Machine. “We have received a lot of investment opportunities over the
years but we turned them all away because we cannot work with complete freedom
once we enter into such an arrangement,” explains Rajeshwar.
And that has been the key for their growth.
Nakkalites boasts a family audience for its content, and grabs eyeballs for
videos that are “rooted to reality and has a regional flavour,” Rajeshwar adds.
New world order
The four-day event saw more than 500 content
creators participate, of which, says Raghavan, more than 50% were
non-Chennaiites, pointing at the significance of Internet penetration in
tier-II and tier-III cities as well as in rural Tamil Nadu. “With every passing
year, newer cities have emerged as centres of excellence. Content in languages
like Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam are doing really well,” he adds.
The possibility of increased engagement via YouTube
also reflects in standard practices adopted by Tamil cinema as well. For over a
year now, filmmakers have attempted the two or three-trailer strategy, as
Raghavan puts it, where the producers create buzz on social media platforms
through motion posters, teasers and trailers uploaded to YouTube. “The
engagement that our movie partners get on their trailers has a high correlation
with their box office yields,” he adds.
There is, of course, an element of misuse (with fake
or misleading content) that comes into play when both the platform and the
supply chain grows exponentially and at a much faster rate. The problem of fake
or misleading content is an issue, especially when such content can reach and
influence Internet-empowered new age citizens of this country, who would be
going online for the first time in 2020 and beyond. More than hate speech or
the inclusion of profanity, it is the whataboutery in such content - something
that channels like Premanand’s have been waging a battle against - that can
undermine the growth of Tamil language content.
“YouTube’s genesis is that it is an open platform.
Our thing is not about censorship. Having said that, we have very strong
community guidelines, and we also work with the respective Governments to
maintain the law of the land,” Raghavan adds.
Big Data
Of the 460 million Internet users in India in 2019,
at least 265 million visit or access YouTube on a monthly basis.
India adds nearly 40 million new Internet users
every year. All of them are expected to log on to YouTube at least once after
going online; of these, more than 60% of the new users are not located in
India’s six metropolitan cities.
There are 1,200 Indian channels with over one
million subscribers. Of these, 120 channels are run by women content creators.
There are 94 Tamil channels at the moment, with over
one million subscribers each. As many as 1,250 Tamil channels have between
1,00,000 and one million subscribers.
Top
Tamil TV news YouTube channels by subscribers
Sl. No
|
Channel name
|
Subscribers
|
Created date
|
1
|
Puthiyathalaimurai
TV
|
5.17M
|
30.06.2012
|
2
|
News7
Tamil
|
3.71M
|
21.08.2014
|
3
|
Polimer
News
|
3.61M
|
05.12.2014
|
4
|
Thanthi
TV
|
3.21M
|
29.08.2012
|
5
|
Sun
News
|
2.22M
|
27.01.2017
|
6
|
Vikatan
TV
|
1.82M
|
04.01.2011
|
7
|
Nakkheeran
TV
|
1.73M
|
08.09.2009
|
8
|
Dinamalar
|
1.13M
|
25.03.2010
|
9
|
Jaya
Plus
|
476K
|
05.12.2013
|
10
|
Hindu
Tamil Thisai
|
382K
|
25.04.2014
|
11
|
Kalaignar
TV News
|
353K
|
02.06.2015
|
12
|
Kumudam
|
299K
|
04.09.2018
|
13
|
Malaimurasu
Tv 24X7
|
268K
|
30.03.2017
|
14
|
Captain
News
|
165K
|
26.11.2015
|
15
|
DD
Podhigai TV
|
122K
|
15.05.2015
|
16
|
Dinamani
|
26.8K
|
17.09.2011
|
17
|
Raj
News Tamil
|
9.43K
|
31.03.2018
|
Top
Tamil infotainment YouTube channels by subscribers and popularity
Sl. No
|
Channel name
|
Subscribers
|
Created date
|
1
|
Mic
Set
|
4.42M
|
05.07.2017
|
2
|
Village
food factory
|
3.71M
|
21.05.2015
|
3
|
Madan
Gowri
|
3.41M
|
05.12.2013
|
4
|
Black
Sheep
|
3.04M
|
29.02.2016
|
5
|
Nakkalites
|
2.61M
|
26.05.2017
|
6
|
Eruma
Saani
|
2.45M
|
25.04.2017
|
7
|
Parithabangal
|
1.98M
|
08.02.2018
|
8
|
Jump
Cuts
|
1.94M
|
16.11.2016
|
9
|
Tamil
Tech
|
1.84M
|
14.11.2016
|
10
|
Madras
Central
|
1.72M
|
26.08.2015
|
11
|
Unakkennapaa
|
1.59M
|
29.02.2016
|
12
|
Put
chutney
|
1.26M
|
19.02.2015
|
13
|
Today
Trending
|
1.16M
|
08.03.2012
|
14
|
Let’s
Make Education Simple
|
1.08M
|
04.11.2009
|
15
|
Smile
Settai
|
1.02M
|
18.12.2015
|
16
|
Nee
Yaaruda Komali
|
763K
|
27.01.2019
|
17
|
Kovai
360*
|
728K
|
19.04.2017
|
18
|
Ungal
Meenavan Mookkaiyur
|
678K
|
17.07.2018
|
19
|
Narikootam
|
644K
|
24.05.2017
|
20
|
Biriyani
Man
|
591K
|
28.01.2018
|
21
|
Pana
Matta
|
428K
|
09.12.2017
|
22
|
Abhistu
|
295K
|
02.06.2016
|
23
|
Naagai
Meenavan
|
285K
|
24.12.2011
|
24
|
Temple
Monkeys
|
177K
|
12.06.2012
|
25
|
Paracetamol
Paniyaram
|
126K
|
29.07.2015
|
26
|
Stupid
Common Man
|
43.8K
|
14.05.2016
|
* Statistical data as
on 16.05.2020 and the list is not complete, it may change periodically.
