The number of bloggers on YouTube has grown amid government threats to block the video service.

The threat of blocking hanging over YouTube in Russia made the video service even more attractive: over the year, the number of Russian creators on the platform increased by 18%, to 7.1 million people. This follows from a Brand Analytic study on the active audience and authors of social media in Russia, the results of which were published by Kommersant. Also, YouTube in Russia increased the volume of content and the activity of authors - by 22% (to 29.5 million messages) and 4%, respectively. The growth in the number of authors on the video platform is primarily due to the development of the YouTube Shorts format, which does not require significant investments in video production, noted Yulia Dolgova, head of the influencer marketing agency LabelUp. In addition to YouTube, the number of authors from all social networks, instant messengers and platforms has increased only in Telegram. Over the year, growth was 33% and reached 14 million authors. At the same time, Telegram itself stated that 40% of activity in the messenger belongs to bots. At the same time, VKontakte, which is positioned by the authorities as a replacement for YouTube in case of blocking, over the year the number of authors fell by 8%, to 25.6 million, and the volume of content decreased by 12% - from 472.5 million messages to 414 .2 million. Brand Analytics explained the decline in the number of authors as a “rebound after noticeable growth in previous periods.”