iWorld
Youtube cashes in big as ads and subs push revenue past Rs 4,980,000 crore
MUMBAI: When clicks turn into crores, the play button starts to look like a cash register. Youtube crossed Rs 4,980,000 crore in total revenue in 2025, underscoring how advertising, subscriptions and short-form video have turned Google’s video arm into a business that now out-earns many global media giants.
The milestone was confirmed by Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet, during the company’s earnings call on February 4. The figure includes revenue from YouTube advertising as well as subscriptions such as Youtube Premium, Music Premium and Youtube TV. By comparison, streaming rival Netflix reported revenue of about Rs 3,750,000 crore for 2025.
While Google does not regularly disclose Youtube’s total revenue, the scale of growth is hard to miss. Advertising revenue from Youtube rose 8.7 per cent year on year to Rs 94,000 crore in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with Rs 86,000 crore in the same period a year earlier. Subscription revenue is reported under Google’s broader subscriptions, platforms and devices segment, which also includes Pixel devices and Google Play. That segment posted Rs 112,000 crore in revenue in the December quarter, up 17.2 per cent from Rs 96,000 crore a year ago.
Pichai said subscription growth on Youtube remains strong, led by Youtube Music Premium, and hinted at fresh ways to widen the funnel. New Youtube TV plans are in the works, with more than ten genre-specific packages aimed at giving viewers greater choice and flexibility. Youtube TV is currently available only in the United States.
Globally, Google now has 325 million paid subscriptions across its consumer services, driven largely by Youtube Premium and Google One. Youtube alone had crossed 125 million subscribers across Music and Premium by March 2025. To keep momentum going, the platform has been experimenting with lower-priced and shared plans. In India, Youtube Premium starts at Rs 89 per month for students, Rs 149 for individuals and Rs 299 for families, while Music Premium plans begin at Rs 59. Prices across tiers were raised by 12 to 58 per cent in August 2024.
Short-form video is also paying off. Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler said Youtube Shorts now averages over 200 billion daily views and is generating more revenue per watch hour than traditional in-stream ads in several markets, including the United States.
Artificial intelligence is becoming another growth lever. More than one million channels used Youtube’s new AI-powered creation tools in a single month, while over 20 million viewers tapped the Gemini-powered Ask feature to learn more about what they were watching. With AI tools expanding and subscriptions scaling, Youtube’s odds-on bet is clear: keep creators centre stage, and let the numbers roll.
