How Many Indians Watch Video Podcasts on YouTube (2026)

How Many Indians Watch Video Podcasts on YouTube (2026)

By Ashok Sachdev, Founder of JustShoot · Published 5 October 2026 · Sources read 5 October 2026

Short answer: Nobody publishes that exact number. PwC counts 177 million monthly podcast listeners in India in 2024 — across every app, audio and video together. YouTube says 1 billion people a month watch podcasts on it worldwide, but gives no India figure. Smaller numbers you may see quoted, such as 40 or 80 million, come without a stated method.

That gap matters if you are deciding whether to start a podcast-format channel. This page lists what the two primary sources actually say, what they do not say, and what you can reasonably conclude for a channel in India.

What PwC counts: 177 million listeners

The most solid India figure is in PwC's Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2025–29: India perspective (p. 19). It says:

• India had 177 million monthly podcast listeners in 2024, up from 154 million in 2023.
• That is expected to reach 267 million by 2029, a compound annual growth rate of 8.5%.
• Podcast advertising revenue was "just over USD39 million" in 2024 and is projected at "more than USD57 million" by 2029.
• PwC adds that "paid models continue to dominate podcast monetisation".

Two things the figure does not tell you:

1. It does not separate video from audio. A listener on Spotify, an Apple Podcasts subscriber and someone watching a full podcast episode on YouTube all count the same.
2. It does not split by platform. There is no YouTube share in the report.

So 177 million is the size of India's podcast audience across everything — a ceiling for YouTube podcasts, not a count of them.

What YouTube counts: 1 billion viewers, worldwide

YouTube's own blog post How podcasts took over the living room in 2025 (18 December 2025) says YouTube has "1 billion monthly active podcast viewers" worldwide. It also says viewers watched "over 700 million hours of podcasts on living room devices in October 2025, up from 400 million hours from just a year prior".

That is YouTube's figure about YouTube, published on its own blog. It is global, and the post gives no India-specific number.

What nobody publishes

We could not find a published, sourced count of how many people in India watch podcasts on YouTube specifically, or how much time they spend doing it. The figures that circulate on aggregator and marketing sites — 40 million listeners, 80 million monthly listeners, "55% of audio-video consumption" — do not cite a method or a dated survey that we could open, and they contradict each other and PwC.

If you need one sourced line, the defensible version is: "India had 177 million monthly podcast listeners across platforms in 2024 (PwC), and YouTube reports 1 billion monthly podcast viewers worldwide." Anything more specific to India and YouTube is not published.

What you can still conclude

Even without an India-on-YouTube count, three things are well supported:

The audience is large and growing slowly, not explosively. 154 million to 177 million in a year is about 15%, and PwC forecasts 8.5% a year after that. That is steady growth, not a gold rush.

The money is not in podcast ads. USD 39 million a year of podcast advertising across all of India is small. Podcast-format YouTube channels earn the same way other YouTube channels do — YouTube ads by RPM, sponsorships and memberships — not from a separate podcast ad market.

More podcast watching is moving to the TV screen. YouTube's living-room hours nearly doubled in a year (global). In India, Ormax counts 129.2 million people streaming on connected TVs in 2025 — our breakdown of that is in how many Indians watch YouTube on a TV. Long, conversation-led formats are exactly what people put on a TV.

Should you start a podcast-format channel?

The numbers say the audience exists but is not new or untapped. What decides whether a podcast channel works is the same thing that decides any channel: the first 30 seconds. Podcast episodes are long, and viewers decide in the opening whether to stay for an hour.

That makes the cold open — the clip you put before the intro — the most important minute you will produce. The free YouTube hook generator gives you three tested openers (curiosity gap, pattern interrupt, stake) in Hindi, Hinglish or English. Write your episode's opening question three ways and pick the one that makes you want to keep watching.

For the episode itself — question prep, guest research and structure — see our guide on how to script a YouTube podcast or interview. For how the wider audience numbers fit together, see how many Indians use YouTube, and for how long each day.

Where JustShoot fits

JustShoot runs the pre-production pipeline — research and fact-check, script, storyboard, thumbnail brief, SEO package and shorts — in your channel's own voice, in 11 languages. For a podcast channel, that means the research brief on your guest's topic and the short clips you cut from a long episode are prepared for you.

Pricing is per script: Trial ₹0 (7 days, 2 scripts lifetime, no card) · Starter ₹499/mo (3 scripts) · Creator ₹999/mo (7 scripts, most popular) · Pro ₹1999/mo (15 scripts) · Studio custom. No rollover, GST included, monthly only. Details on the pricing page.

FAQ

How many people listen to podcasts in India? PwC's Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2025–29: India perspective counts 177 million monthly podcast listeners in India in 2024, up from 154 million in 2023, and forecasts 267 million by 2029. That covers all platforms, audio and video.

How many Indians watch podcasts on YouTube? No primary source publishes an India-only YouTube podcast figure. YouTube reports 1 billion monthly podcast viewers worldwide (YouTube blog, 18 December 2025) without an India split, and PwC's 177 million is not broken down by platform.

Is podcasting profitable in India? Podcast advertising in India was just over USD 39 million in 2024 by PwC's count, projected to exceed USD 57 million by 2029, and PwC says paid models dominate monetisation. A podcast-format YouTube channel mainly earns through YouTube ads, sponsorships and memberships.

Are podcasts growing in India? Yes, steadily. PwC's listener count grew from 154 million to 177 million between 2023 and 2024, and it forecasts 8.5% a year to 2029.

Do people watch YouTube podcasts on TV? Globally, YouTube says podcast viewing on living-room devices reached over 700 million hours in October 2025, up from 400 million a year earlier. It does not publish that figure for India.

Sources, read 5 October 2026. PwC India, Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2025–29: India perspective (pwc.in, PDF), p. 19. YouTube, How podcasts took over the living room in 2025, blog.youtube, 18 December 2025. Ormax Media, The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2025, 19 September 2025 (connected-TV audience). The 15% growth figure is our own arithmetic on PwC's 2023 and 2024 counts.