Prime Minister Narendra Modi's YouTube channel achieved a significant milestone on Tuesday by surpassing 20 million subscriptions, making it the most subscribed channel among top global leaders.
Officials noted that the videos posted on Modi's channel have more than 4.5 billion views, far ahead of his global peers.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is second on the list of subscriber numbers with around 64 lakh -- less than a third of Modi's.
In terms of views, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is second to the Indian prime minister with 22.4 crore, a small fraction of Modi's.
US President Joe Biden has 7.89 lakh subscribers while his Turkiye counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan has 3.16 lakh.
'Yoga with Modi', a YouTube channel linked to the prime minister, is also high on the list with more than 73,000 subscribers.
Modi's channel, with its 4.5 billion (450 crore) video views, outshines the competition, setting the benchmark for political leaders on YouTube. This achievement underscores his global popularity, consistently highlighted in various surveys, including Morning Consult, where he has been consistently rated as the most popular global leader with an approval rating exceeding 75 per cent.
Among other notable Indian leaders, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's channel has more than 35 lakh subscribers, a little over a sixth of Modi's.
The prime minister set up his YouTube channel in 2007 when he was Gujarat chief minister and is considered a pioneer in Indian politics in understanding the potential of social media in public communication and is credited for harnessing it to huge success.
