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\n\tConnected TV has become YouTube<\/a>\u2018s fastest-growing screen in India, reaching more than 75 million adults, as the platform pushes deeper into living-room viewing and signals a structural shift in how it partners with the country\u2019s media and entertainment sector.<\/p>\n \n\tGunjan Soni<\/a>, country managing director of YouTube India, made the remarks at the APOS<\/a> conference in Bali on Wednesday, laying out a three-part operational approach for M&E partners centered on promotional distribution, revenue diversification and format modernization.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYouTube is now India\u2019s prime-time screen, where internet authenticity meets cinematic quality on the largest canvas in the home,\u201d Soni said. \u201cYouTube has collapsed the distance between different video formats and different entertainment ecosystems, bringing them all onto India\u2019s largest screen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to YouTube, the platform holds the top reach across CTV screens in India among media properties, per Comscore data. Viewers are moving between shorts, long-form video, podcasts and live content, with the big screen increasingly serving as a destination for shared, lean-back viewing. Video podcasts \u2013 or vodcasts \u2013 have emerged as a particularly CTV-native format, with shows turning passive audio listening into a visual event.<\/p>\n \n\tOn the commerce side, Soni said more than 200 million logged-in users searched for shopping-related content on YouTube in India last year, with shopping watch time growing more than 250% year-over-year. The share of YouTube Shorts featuring shopping tags grew sixfold over the same period, and more than 40% of eligible Indian creators are now enrolled in the platform\u2019s Shopping Affiliate Program. According to YouTube, 85% of surveyed Indian viewers said they trust creator product recommendations over traditional advertising.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe Content-to-Commerce Flywheel is already taking off in a big way in India,\u201d Soni said. \u201cOur unique approach relies on turbocharging the existing user needs and their trust in creators\u2019 recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSoni framed India\u2019s creator economy as a macroeconomic force with global reach, citing individual creators who have built direct-to-consumer businesses and regional employment from their channels. \u201cIndia represents the blueprint for how a digital creator economy achieves institutional scale,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \n\tOn sports, Soni said views on cricket-related content reached 190 billion on the platform in 2025, with two-thirds of that consumption time spent on non-live content such as tactical analysis and behind-the-scenes programming rather than match broadcasts. According to YouTube, 96% of surveyed Indian cricket viewers watched cricket content on YouTube or YouTube Shorts in the most recent tracked month. \u201cYouTube owns the high-intent sports conversation 365 days a year, much before the match begins and long after the final whistle blows,\u201d Soni said.<\/p>\n \n\tAPOS, the annual Asia-Pacific media and technology conference, is running in Bali through June 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\tPopular on Variety\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n