In case you haven’t figured it out by now, the channel described in the preceding lines is T-Series. The most-watched and most-subscribed YouTube channel in the world held onto the #1 spot in the Global Top 50 during a week when it accrued 747.4 million weekly views. T-Series surpassed 240 billion lifetime views earlier in December, and it could pass the 250 billion mark as soon as February 2024. That makes it the top record label on YouTube — not just in its home country of India, but across the entire globe.

Another Indian channel captured the #2 spot in the Global Top 50. Anaya Kandhal is a child creator who has captured the hearts of viewers across South Asia. The family-friendly videos on Anaya’s channel cater to the large community of non-English-speaking Indians who find entertainment via platforms like YouTube Shorts. That audience led Anaya Kandhal to 464.6 million weekly views during the third full week of December. Though that was a slight downturn week-over-week, Kandhal held onto the runner-up status she earned a week ago.

The highest-ranking U.S.-based channel in the Global Top 50 is Toys and Colors. During the second half of 2023, the educational hub has become a breakout hit among YouTube’s youngest audience. Its success, aided by its partnership with the media company pocket.watch, has made it a regular entrant in our charts. One week before Christmas, Toys and Colors kept its hot streak alive with a third-place finish in our worldwide chart. It approached 50 million subscribers while picking up 405 million weekly views.

The fourth-place channel in the Global Top 50 also held onto the same chart position it reached last week. ZAMZAM ELECTRONICS TRADING has become the most-watched channel in the Middle East by sharing the daily happenings that occur in and around the titular technology store. The Dubai-based duo in charge of ZAMZAM pushed their YouTube subscriber count above 40 million during a week when they reeled in 393.5 million weekly views.

The fourth country represented in this week’s global top five is Russia. That’s the home of Filaretiki, a family-oriented channel that just achieved its highest chart position of 2023. Filaretiki claimed the #5 spot in the Global Top 50 thanks to the 351.1 million views it picked up during the week that was.

Brothers Vlog now has more than seven billion lifetime YouTube views thanks to the 204.1 million weekly views the channel picked up during the third week of September. That sum, which was 38% higher than Brothers Vlog’s previous seven-day total, pushed the Pakistani channel up to 37th place in the Global Top 50.

By commenting on culture from across South Asia, Brothers Vlog has become a hot commodity on YouTube Shorts. The titular sibs may not have come from much, but at this rate, they’ll be the rich parents before long.

 Channel Distribution

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:

• India: 17 channels in the Top 50.
• United States: 9 channels in the Top 50.
• Pakistan: 5 channels in the Top 50.
• Japan: 4 channels in the Top 50.
• Vietnam: 3 channels in the Top 50.
• Canada, Russia, and South Korea: 2 channels in the Top 50.
• Belgium, El Salvador, France, Hong Kong, Spain, and United Arab Emirates: 1 channel each in the Top 50.

This week, 33 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.

Top 50

50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels This Week • Worldwide

December 11, 2023 – December 17, 2023

1

T-Series

Views this week: 747,417,372

0%

LW

1

All-Time Views: 241,039,637,420

All-Time Subs: 255,000,000

2

Anaya Kandhal

Views this week: 464,636,403

-1%

LW

2

All-Time Views: 12,929,736,281

All-Time Subs: 18,300,000

3

Toys and Colors

Views this week: 405,085,518

-9%

LW

3

All-Time Views: 55,854,822,422

All-Time Subs: 49,100,000

4

ZAMZAM ELECTRONICS TRADING

Views this week: 393,581,903

-4%

LW

4

All-Time Views: 17,562,788,568

All-Time Subs: 40,100,000

5

Filaretiki

Views this week: 351,195,723

1%

LW

7

All-Time Views: 20,105,169,157

All-Time Subs: 19,900,000

6

KL BRO Biju Rithvik

Views this week: 349,485,968

-12%

LW

6

All-Time Views: 28,439,454,491

All-Time Subs: 36,700,000

7

MrBeast

Views this week: 331,972,360

-18%

LW

5

All-Time Views: 38,771,331,971

All-Time Subs: 219,000,000

8

MaviGadget

Views this week: 307,666,601

20%

LW

32

All-Time Views: 15,074,816,212

All-Time Subs: 18,200,000

9

Neetu Bisht

Views this week: 307,052,987

14%

LW

26

All-Time Views: 13,755,181,321

All-Time Subs: 20,400,000

10

SET India

Views this week: 305,034,985

-5%

LW

10

All-Time Views: 155,252,827,631

All-Time Subs: 166,000,000

11

Sierra & Rhia FAM

Views this week: 300,841,067

23%

LW

37

All-Time Views: 7,744,515,049

All-Time Subs: 7,190,000

12

김프로KIMPRO

Views this week: 291,901,541

-15%

LW

9

All-Time Views: 29,996,720,997

All-Time Subs: 29,300,000

13

Diary of 4

Views this week: 284,520,161

-1%

LW

17

All-Time Views: 6,095,650,945

All-Time Subs: 3,540,000

14

Zee TV

Views this week: 280,471,722

10%

LW

N/A

All-Time Views: 84,073,518,618

All-Time Subs: 75,300,000

15

Sony SAB

Views this week: 276,114,051

-8%

LW

15

All-Time Views: 108,000,808,690

All-Time Subs: 87,800,000

16

Real fools shorts official

Views this week: 268,856,089

-9%

LW

13

All-Time Views: 10,802,555,886

All-Time Subs: 26,600,000

17

ViralHog

Views this week: 268,316,316

-4%

LW

20

All-Time Views: 25,306,497,406

All-Time Subs: 19,900,000

18

Alfredo Larin

Views this week: 265,994,797

-2%

LW

23

All-Time Views: 22,161,317,175

All-Time Subs: 26,800,000

19

Celine Dept

Views this week: 264,063,919

-18%

LW

12

All-Time Views: 10,730,491,690

All-Time Subs: 18,600,000

20

Vlad and Niki

Views this week: 253,711,597

-1%

LW

33

All-Time Views: 82,663,902,486

All-Time Subs: 106,000,000

21

Filmy Suraj Actor

Views this week: 251,023,900

-8%

LW

16

All-Time Views: 5,365,688,961

All-Time Subs: 14,400,000

22

Moosa Tv Info

Views this week: 245,686,829

-27%

LW

11

All-Time Views: 9,709,192,220

All-Time Subs: 11,300,000

23

HAYATAKU はやたく

Views this week: 241,037,559

-12%

LW

22

All-Time Views: 7,120,055,227

All-Time Subs: 7,380,000

24

✿ Kids Diana Show

Views this week: 239,700,270

-7%

LW

31

All-Time Views: 98,178,533,543

All-Time Subs: 117,000,000

25

ISSEI / いっせい

Views this week: 235,057,919

-16%

LW

18

All-Time Views: 19,780,420,493

All-Time Subs: 20,600,000

26

HAR PAL GEO

Views this week: 233,686,459

-8%

LW

34

All-Time Views: 46,499,269,551

All-Time Subs: 48,600,000

27

Dangal TV Channel

Views this week: 232,683,000

-3%

LW

39

All-Time Views: 17,404,516,434

All-Time Subs: 26,400,000

28

ARY Digital HD

Views this week: 223,329,599

-15%

LW

29

All-Time Views: 45,522,260,047

All-Time Subs: 49,400,000

29

Spider VAMBI

Views this week: 223,094,704

-19%

LW

25

All-Time Views: 11,475,466,178

All-Time Subs: 15,800,000

30

HiFunnie

Views this week: 221,296,011

-21%

LW

21

All-Time Views: 8,820,724,821

All-Time Subs: 6,970,000

31

StarPlus

Views this week: 219,364,602

-10%

LW

38

All-Time Views: 34,448,095,174

All-Time Subs: 36,800,000

32

ToRung

Views this week: 215,455,860

-35%

LW

8

All-Time Views: 3,339,818,272

All-Time Subs: 6,790,000

33

Vijay Television

Views this week: 213,654,021

7%

LW

53

All-Time Views: 34,554,882,041

All-Time Subs: 22,300,000

34

Tibo InShape

Views this week: 212,424,563

-20%

LW

27

All-Time Views: 7,566,619,288

All-Time Subs: 13,300,000

35

Vivaan and Tanya

Views this week: 211,639,913

68%

LW

140

All-Time Views: 1,768,553,217

All-Time Subs: 2,360,000

36

The Mannii Show

Views this week: 204,631,845

14%

LW

66

All-Time Views: 7,536,682,051

All-Time Subs: 8,320,000

37

BROTHERS VLOG

Views this week: 204,137,962

38%

LW

95

All-Time Views: 7,176,683,810

All-Time Subs: 14,500,000

38

Mr DegrEE

Views this week: 202,831,732

-28%

LW

19

All-Time Views: 19,203,332,922

All-Time Subs: 22,600,000

39

Linh Nhi Shorts

Views this week: 202,620,043

-10%

LW

42

All-Time Views: 13,498,377,798

All-Time Subs: 14,800,000

40

Cute Krashiv

Views this week: 200,279,322

70%

LW

164

All-Time Views: 3,578,386,986

All-Time Subs: 2,880,000

41

One More Spanish

Views this week: 199,730,900

62%

LW

174

All-Time Views: 2,037,168,878

All-Time Subs: 2,270,000

42

BEN EAGLE

Views this week: 198,595,626

-10%

LW

44

All-Time Views: 5,465,793,839

All-Time Subs: 11,600,000

43

Marta and Rustam

Views this week: 198,016,378

-11%

LW

43

All-Time Views: 23,488,740,232

All-Time Subs: 26,500,000

44

萌萌与舞桐

Views this week: 197,518,059

20%

LW

86

All-Time Views: 1,073,140,750

All-Time Subs: 1,970,000

44

HAR PAL GEO

Views this week: 236,946,166

-1%

LW

31

All-Time Views: 45,751,270,895

All-Time Subs: 48,000,000

46

Dangal TV Channel

Views this week: 234,863,958

6%

LW

39

All-Time Views: 16,680,179,262

All-Time Subs: 25,600,000

47

ISSEI / いっせい

Views this week: 233,193,538

-1%

LW

33

All-Time Views: 19,052,816,164

All-Time Subs: 19,700,000

48

The geeta gurjar

Views this week: 230,688,881

6%

LW

43

All-Time Views: 10,053,803,015

All-Time Subs: 16,300,000

49

Priyal Kukreja

Views this week: 225,065,873

7%

LW

46

All-Time Views: 14,605,770,118

All-Time Subs: 25,500,000

50

CuRe 구래

Views this week: 221,739,705

17%

LW

62

All-Time Views: 12,021,981,931

All-Time Subs: 17,700,000

Oh, don’t scream yet, because you’ll still be able to double-tap on your favourite content and like them, but you will no longer be able to see how many other people have liked that particular post.

While a lot of people love the idea, many others think its a very bad move and Instagram can’t just wake up and do this. Well…

I’m sorry “dear”, but this platform is just rented land and Instagram is the Landlord who has been tweaking the algorithm without our permission for a very long time….so, yes, they can just wake up and hide likes too….

The first question here is

Why Is Instagram Removing Likes?

On the 14th of November, Instagram announced on its official channels that they were rolling out the private like update globally (they had previously tested this feature in Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and a few other select countries).

According to Instagram… “We want your followers to focus on what you share, and not how many likes your posts get. During this test, only you will be able to see the total number of likes on your posts”

A different side of this story has also been flying around — there is a rumour that Instagram may have done this to address complaints that young people’s mental health is being affected by likes (which has become a scale for validating your work on the app) or that this may be a strategic move to increase their bottom line by pushing brands to consider direct promotion since they can’t see likes on Influencer posts (although paid partnership tags allow brands to see analytics from influencers they partner with, so I’m not sure about the last story).

Another key question is…

How does this affect influencers & Influencer marketing?

Although the Influencer status is not determined entirely by the number of followers you have, almost anyone with a huge number of followers and likes on their posts can become an influencer.

Personally, aside from cleaning my account periodically, I have also deleted or archived posts because they didn’t get as many likes as I expected . A lot of influencers who place value on likes consider this update as a threat to their relevance on the platform, but it shouldn’t be and here’s why.

Influencer marketing has never just been about the number of likes. Working with businesses over the years has taught me that brands that know what they want, don’t care about the number of likes on your page. What they do care about is how their partnership with you affects both their overall brand equity and their bottom line. This is why they pay for your influence and ability to represent the brand instead of likes.

Influence vs Likes — What Brands Should Focus On

It’s important to note that the role of an influencer is similar to the role of a Brand Ambassador and that is why brands should not limit their focus on the number of likes an influencer gets but rather on two very critical elements.

• Does this influencer represent the brand well publicly?
• How does his/her audience respond to posts (quality of conversation)

Counting how many times I have double-tapped on a great picture without checking the caption goes to prove that the like count is a rather shallow engagement metric.

Comments on the other hand, regardless of the number, can tell a brand if the audience finds resonance with an influencer and responds to him/her by ultimately taking “expected” action.

While some business owners may know how important this is to their brand, others often wonder why they need to be clear about these two things before engaging an influencer.

Brands also need to pay attention beyond the number of comments on an influencer’s post — the quality often trumps the quantity of the engagement. From the quality of comments, you can tell whether followers read through the posts.

Here are a few tips on how to tell…

• Do they ask relevant questions based on the post
• Do they contribute to the content information
• Do they start conversations
• Do they share their experience using similar products or services or from similar experiences (the list goes on…)

Advice for Creators/Influencers

Comments are the new likes and the key here is to create relatable content for your audience. This is so far the easiest way to validate yourself and continue to attract collaboration even after likes are gone.

Will this affect Instagram in any way?

Well… I’m not necessarily worried about people leaving the platform when likes disappear…..like every other uninvited change users will quickly get used to it and move on fast.

We will also see more creative and relatable content from brands and influencers etc…..Overall this will make Instagram a mentally healthier place to be.

What do you think about this change and how it may affect you/your business on the platform?

This story by John Moduforo has been republished from here