Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s YouTube channel has crossed 30 million subscribers. This places him at the top among world leaders on the platform.
The milestone adds to a series of digital records for the Prime Minister and signals the scale of his online footprint. With 30 million subscribers, he now sits comfortably ahead of other serving and former heads of government in terms of YouTube following.
According to available data, the next closest political figure is former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro with around 6.6 million subscribers, barely a quarter of Modi’s tally. The Indian Prime Minister’s numbers are also more than seven times those of US President Donald Trump on the video-sharing platform.
Within India, the difference is just as stark. PM Modi’s YouTube subscriber base is nearly three times that of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It is also more than four times higher than the individual counts of both the Aam Aadmi Party and the Indian National Congress.
A widening lead across platforms
The YouTube milestone comes days after another landmark. On February 26, the Prime Minister crossed 100 million followers on Instagram, becoming the first serving world leader to do so.
Since joining Instagram in 2014, Modi has steadily built one of the most-followed political accounts globally. His follower count on the platform is more than double that of US President Donald Trump, who has 43.2 million followers.
Other prominent leaders trail further behind. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has 15 million followers, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has 14.4 million, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has 11.6 million, and Argentine President Javier Milei has 6.4 million.
In fact, the combined following of the next five major global leaders on Instagram does not exceed PM Modi’s individual tally.
On X, the Prime Minister is followed by 106.3 million people. On Facebook, another 54 million keep up with his posts.
Put together, those numbers show just how wide his online footprint is. A large part of that audience is young, mobile-first and used to getting updates straight from their phones. Over the years, PM Modi has chosen to speak to them directly, through videos, posts and short messages, instead of relying only on traditional channels.