YouTube influencers are significantly outperforming mainstream and digital media in terms of political interview viewership in India, according to a new study by researchers Dhruv Raghavan and Joyojeet Pal.

Raghavan, a student at Brown University in the United States and Pal, an associate professor at University of Michigan, found that authenticity and content quality remain crucial in determining audience engagement, even on influencer-driven platforms.

The research, which analysed 238 interviews by 74 politicians for 20 YouTube channels in the year leading up to India’s 2024 general elections, indicates a seismic shift in political communication.

The researchers classified the YouTube channels into four categories – mainstream media, digital news, influencers and independent journalists – and analysed five channels from each category that carried political interviews.

Influencers and independent journalists consistently outperformed traditional and digital media channels. Politicians’ interviews with influencers or independent journalists on an average saw nearly ten times the views as those with mainstream media outlets.

“Politicians are increasingly turning to social media influencers for interviews,” the study noted, attributing this trend to the ability of influencers to connect with newer audiences in polarised environments, present politicians in a relaxed setting, and avoid the grilling often associated with professional journalists. The study noted that only widely popular politicians can hope to secure an interview with influencers who have large followings.

“Mainstream and digital news channels have thousands of videos and tend to produce a large amount of content on a daily basis,” the study noted. “Influencers, on the other hand, have a much smaller output, but this output is heavily advertised and, on average, gets much more viewership.”

The lifestyle channel Curly Tales got the highest share of median views overall while Ajit Anjum was found to have the most engagement among independent journalists. The Lallantop was found to have the highest share of median views among digital channels and Aaj Tak emerged as the leading mainstream media outlet on YouTube.

The study showed a stark bias in political representation on influencer platforms, with politicians from the “ruling alliance” dominating appearances. Influencer channels like Vivek Bindra’s and Beer Biceps hosted interviews almost exclusively with politicians from the ruling alliance, whereas independent journalists, such as Anjum, offered more balanced coverage. The study does not mention political parties by name.

Anjum’s interviews “tend to be a bit more combative”, the study noted, highlighting that interviews that appear authentic tend to be more effective at driving engagement as compared to “softball interviews” that some political leaders may prefer.

For example, YouTuber Samdish Bhatia’s channel averaged 1.7 million views per interview despite having only 2 million subscribers. This performance contrasts sharply with influencers like Vivek Bindra and Technical Guruji, whose interviews garnered fewer than 200,000 views despite massive followings.

The study also found that the median views per interview were “fairly consistent” between Opposition and ruling alliance politicians, meaning that videos of interviews were not viewed more or less depending on whether the politicians were from the ruling coalition or the Opposition.

“Thus preference for ruling party politicians is based on factors other than views,” Joyojeet Pal, one of the authors of the study, said on X.

The researchers also found that interviews that lasted between 60 and 80 minutes got the most views, a finding they described as rather surprising.

“…People are not necessarily seeking short-form content on political interviews, counter to widespread claims that social media users only want to consume bite-sized content,” the study said.

The study traced the roots of this trend to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s communication strategy, which emphasises social media engagement over outreach through traditional media. Modi’s 2007 interview with journalist Karan Thapar was a pivotal moment, the study noted, after which Modi has largely avoided mainstream media interviews.

Among politicians, Jan Suraaj party founder Prashant Kishor’s interviews got the highest number of median views, followed by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founder Asaduddin Owaisi and Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The researchers noted that influencers give politicians access to new audiences in “highly polarised political environments” and allow them to present themselves in relatively benign ways. Further, influencers may “neither have the skill to push a politician nor the policy knowledge that is necessary to grill a politician on air,” they added.

Also read: Why are so many Indian politicians giving interviews to social media influencers?