The Tamil YouTube cooking channel made famous by theparticipation of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has acquired one croresubscribers, which has earned it YouTube’s Diamond Play Button.
The YouTube channel, which was launched as a 'timepass'activity by some residents of the Chinna Veeramangalam villae in the Pudukottaidistrict of Tamil Nadu now has a global audience.
Created by cousins V. Subramanian, V. Murugesan, V.Ayyanar, G. Tamilselvan and T. Muthumanickam, and led by their grandfather andformer caterer, M. Periyathambi, the channel's daily subscriber numbers jumpedfrom 10,000 to 40,000 after Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi appeared on it.
The team earns around Rs 7 lakh a month as their share ofthe advertisement revenue generated by YouTube views. It recently donated Rs 10lakh to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund handing over the chequepersonally to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Subramanian, the techie behind the YouTube channel, said,"We began this channel to spend time when we were not cultivating asbasically we are all farmers. As all men in our village can cook, we thoughtwhy not show it to the world."
He said a quarter of the Rs 7 lakh they earn per month isspent on buying the ingredients because, as he put it, "we regularly hoistfeasts in the village". Subramanian also said the team does "a lot ofcharity and spend on the needy."
The YouTube cooking channel is the first in Tamil Nadu tocross the mark of 1 crore subscribers.
Periyathambi who is also known as thaatha or grandfather,said: "It is really great that we are getting recognition from as far asthe United States of America. I think that everyone should believe in their ownabilities and this is what you are seeing in our case. We popularised ourstrength and it became a hit. I feel proud because we are being recognizedinternationally."