In an interview with Raj Shamani, comedian Bharti Singh opened up about her vlogging career on YouTube and the earnings she makes from online content.
Comedian Bharti Singh opened up about her relationship with money and said that while she has achieved great financial success in the last few years, she is a simple person at heart. Bharti was born in a simple family and grew up in Punjab where she faced many hardships. Her father passed away when she was two years old and her mother had to work as a maid in houses to make ends meet. But when the need for work arose, she encouraged Bharti to take a risk and move to Mumbai and this decision changed Bharti’s life. Now, Bharti is one of the highest-paid celebrities on Indian television, while also running a successful side-hustle as a vlogger on YouTube.
On Raj Shamani’s podcast, Bharti spoke about her YouTube journey and revealed that surprisingly, a large portion of her earnings come from her online presence. “I make 60% of my earnings from television and 40% from YouTube. I can’t believe it. If you had told me that I would get paid for a simple job like cleaning microphones and posting it… It was Harsh (husband Harsh Limbachiyaa) who told me that TV won’t last long and I should focus on YouTube. I didn’t understand it initially. But then, I started enjoying it. And then, I started making money, which was even better. I have learnt one thing; if you are dedicated and hardworking, YouTube will be equally dedicated to you.”
Bharti’s channel has 7 million subscribers, which puts her in the top rung of Indian content creators. Comparatively, Flying Beast has around 9 million subscribers, and Raj Shamani himself has 12 million. Sometimes, I feel like putting up four vlogs every day. I have so much content that it can be summed up in a little over 12 minutes. I started YouTube almost two years ago and now I have over 7 million subscribers. Earlier, I used to upload one vlog a week. But the money is good; still, not as much as TV. I earn as much in a day on TV as I earn in a month on YouTube. I love both mediums. Now, when I don’t share a vlog, I feel weird.” Talking about her relationship with money, Bharti said, “Yes, I travel in business class and stay in five-star hotels, but I still eat with my hands. That will never change. I haven’t changed. I still have a craving to go to Amritsar. But I haven’t been there for three years. That’s the beauty of Mumbai; if you’re hardworking, this city won’t let you go. Whenever I plan to go to Amritsar, I get some new work.”
Many of Bharti’s peers have also joined the YouTube career. Archana Puran Singh and her family also share vlogs daily and are inching towards the 1 million subscriber mark. In a recent video, Archana revealed that she got the inspiration to start vlogging from Farah Khan. “During the lockdown, I started posting short videos on Instagram with my house-help Bhagyashree because I had a lot of time. People called me up to tell me that what I was doing was called vlogging, and I didn’t even know. The videos were going viral and Bhagyashree became famous worldwide. So Farah Khan suggested to me that I should start a good channel. We have worked in theatre, films, TV and OTT. All that was left was a YouTube presence,” Archana said.
In an interview, Parmeet admitted that vlogging has proved to be more successful than his acting career. “It has definitely proved to be more fruitful. We started it because we believe this is the future and we wanted to be a part of it. The entertainment landscape is changing rapidly,” he said in an interview to Screen.
