What did Pakistanis watch on YouTube in 2023?

The year 2023 witnessed intriguing trends on social media with Pakistanis spending notable screen time on a wide variety of content on YouTube.

The introduction of YouTube Shorts — short-length videos — contributed significantly towards keeping both the content creators and the Pakistani audience hooked on the popular video-sharing platform as the format proved to be ideal for younger audiences preferring informative and entertainment-related content.

Despite the short format averaging 70 billion daily views, the long-form content continues to resonate with Pakistanis which is reflected in significant screentime enjoyed by various content creators.

Most notably, Geo Television’s Tere Bin’s episode 57 — starring Yumna Zaidi and Wahaj Ali — which garnered overwhelming praise and recognition from the Pakistani audience, topped the list as the most trending video in Pakistan.

Highlighting the dynamic significance of the top trending list, Google’s Regional Director for Pakistan Farhan Qureshi said: “The top trending lists of this year reflect the cultural evolution in Pakistan, notably marked by a substantial rise in Shorts viewership and distinct fan bases forming around specific content categories such as music, dramas, and vlogs.”

The official further underscored that content creators are embracing multi-format approaches in order to explore new genres and audiences and the platform anticipates that ongoing expansion of multi-format content will result in a more varied and interesting range of content than ever.

Meanwhile, as per YouTube’s statistics, content creators that succeeded in captivating the Pakistani audience’s attention include ZAMZAM ELECTRONICS TRADING, followed by Ducky Bhai (real name Saad ur Rehman).

Whereas YouTube channels such as Sistrology, Maaz Safdar World and Ijaz Ansari Food Secrets, also managed to make it to the top creators’ list.

The year also proved that Pakistanis continue to hold a special place for music with several Indian-origin songs such as Tere Vaaste, Kya Loge Tum, Zihaal e Miskin and Bilal Saeed’s Udh Di Phiran included in the top music videos watched by Pakistanis in 2023.

Here's a brief overview of the top content creators and videos in Pakistan for the year 2023:

Top trending videos

• Tere Bin 2nd Last Ep 57
• Tu Subha Di Paak Hawa Warga, Nimra Mehra, DaisBook
• Mayi Ri, episode 1
• Muhabbat Gumshuda Meri, episode 1

Top music videos

• Hum Sindh Main Rehne Wale Sindhi by Mumtaz Molai
• Tere Vaaste by Varun J, Sachin-Jigar and Amitabh B
  
• Kya Loge Tum by BPraak and Jaani
• Zihaal e Miskin by Vishal Mishra and Shreya Ghoshal

Top creators

• ZAMZAM ELECTRONICS TRADING
• Ducky Bhai
• Shehr Main Dihat
• Salman Noman