So the great YouTube war seems to come to an end now as T-series has dethroned PewDiePie to become the most subscribed channel in the world. The battle between the two was quite intense as far as PewDiePie’s side was concerned. He tried everything to stop T-series but as Bhushan Kumar, the Managing Director of T-series, says no amount of spamming will be able to hold back the power of good music, PewDiePie wasn’t able to beat the Indian record label.

All the activism of PewDiePie fans, more popularly known as pewds, were in vain. They did everything from hacking The Wall Street Journal’s website, damaging the Brooklyn War Memorial to the recent Christchurch terrorist incidents and much more. This matter is much more complex than it seems. But you can learn everything about it in one of my previous articles.

Now let’s get to what this article is for. In a recent interview with The Quartz India, T-series’ head, Bhushan Kumar said that they are going to strengthen T-series’ digital offerings’ as they near the 100 million subscribers mark in YouTube. He talks about how important churning out good content is and how a rise in the sale of smartphones and a decrease in the cost of mobile data has resulted in huge profits to the company. Let’s have a quick look at what the said during the interview

He said that he was never in this scuffle to be the numero uno youtube channel. He launched the #BharatWinsYouTube campaign in order to respond to the sarcastic comments from PewDiePie and his fans. He also stated that this status of T-series doesn’t change anything on the company’s commercial front. He also said that with these developments however T-series is getting promoted in countries which earlier didn’t use to watch them.

Another power for T-series’ success is nationalism, yes people subscribe to T-series for because its an Indian company and they want to make them hit the top, which to me should not be a criterion for choosing anyone between T-series and PewDiePie. Both of them are best in their own fields.

How much does T-series earn from YouTube?

T-series’ about 60-70% revenue comes from what the company calls “non-physical” sources which basically are online platforms including YouTube, and other music streaming apps that include JioSaavn, Spotify, Gaana, Airtel Wynk, Apple Music among others. These sources exclude TV and radio. Partnerships of T-series with these music streaming apps had been there since 2005. At that time the motive was more to promote caller tunes.

T-series is going to make web series?

Bhushan Kumar said that they are also into making good content for web series. Though, this process is in its initial state and will take some time. They take Hotstar, Amazon Prime, and Netflix as good platforms to host shows. For now, they don’t have investment numbers to give.

What about Bollywood films?

For Bollywood films, the company has got 20-25 good content-driven film projects. Major actors that will be starring in these films include Ajay Devgan and Ranbir Kapoor. And the budget for films this year is around 500-600 crores INR. The company has movies like Bharat, Taanaji: The Unsung Warrior, De De Pyaar De, and Bhuj: The Pride Of India.

Will digital media kill TV and cinemas?

Bhushan Kumar has the view that due to decreased prices of mobile data in India, smartphone usage has risen rapidly. He thinks that digital media has got a bright future in India. He believes that irrespective of medium, good content is going to win the game.

Movie Tickets are expensive than what digital platforms offer. Shouldn’t the price at movie theatre be reduced?

He says that digital platforms are priced cheaper because they have an advertisement-led business model, which means they get much income from advertisements also. But for theatres, they work on occupancy levels. Even if there are 15-20 people they have to run the show for them. So, increasing prices is not a solution. Also, theatres claim they do not make much money, but their valuations are on the higher side. I am not in the theatre business, so I’d rather not point out what the exact dynamics are.

In the end, he also showed concern about the poor physical and mental health that smartphones are causing. He also admitted that he spends much time on his smartphone to watch promos of his songs, trailers and other stuff. He added that overuse of anything is harmful.