T-Series becomes the first YouTube channel to cross 100 mn subscribers

The music label crossed the mark on Wednesday, fortifying its place as the most subscribed YouTube channel globally

Bhushan Kumar-led music label T-Series has become the first ever YouTube channel to cross the 100-million subscriber mark. In doing so, it has also pulled ahead of YouTuber PewDiePie’s channels, and consolidated its position as the most subscribed channel on the platform.

Till last month, Swedish YouTube celebrity Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg’s channel PewDiePie and T-Series were locked in a battle to become the most subscribed channel. The two have been playing musical chairs for the top spot. The Swedish YouTuber even released ‘diss tracks’ making fun of T-Series, and many believe that the act instigated Bollywood fans across the globe to rally in support of T-Series’ channel.

Kumar, however, said that there was a conscious effort from the label regarding the content it put out on the channel. “We have always focused on putting out good content. We ensure that the songs that we put out are shot on a lavish scale, very often in exotic locations and with good production values, often with known names featuring in the videos. My focus has always been on keeping the melody intact for all our songs including the film songs,” Kumar said.

The channel also launched a campaign #BharatWinsYouTube where its appealed to Indians to subscribe to the T-Series channel. “It’s very easy to become complacent after a huge victory. The challenge is to constantly be ahead of the curve and study what the market demands and give the listeners what they want and wherever possible to surpass their expectations. As always, we will focus on making better content, content which is more appealing, more entertaining and more engaging,” Kumar added. 

The music label celebrated the feat on various social media platforms with a post thanking the channel’s subscribers for their support. “All of us are trying to soak in this new milestone. But, yes all the teams are soon going to meet and brainstorm on how do we up the game from here. How to ensure that our audience remains loyal to us? We know for a fact that it will again require immense amount of preparation and hard work. There really is no other way,” Kumar said.

At the time of filing, T-Series had 100, 029, 750 subscribers, while PewDiePie had 96, 190, 950 subscribers. While T-series launched its channel in 2006, PewDiePie was launched in 2010. However, the Swedish YouTuber saw a meteoric rise in the number of subscribers, which has in recent months slowed down according to analytics website Social Blade. T-series also leads in terms of the number of uploads and daily average views.

Content on T-Series includes music from the various movies it has the rights to, music videos of original songs published by the label, and a massive library of devotional content. The label, which also dabbles in movie production also used YouTube to promote its various Bollywood projects.