Armenian YouTube channel stats — May 2021

Armenian News Network / Groong

June 13, 2021

by Hovik Manucharyan, co-host of the Groong podcast.

A monthly update on what Armenian content is watched the most on YouTube.

Since August 2020 Groong has been tracking statistics about Armenian YouTube channels in order to better understand what type of news and political content gets consumed by Armenian users. We identify and monitor more than a hundred content sources on YouTube and at the end of every month, we tally the view count and subscriber count, giving us an interesting picture.

We have classified the channels based on criteria outlined here.

In this article we provide a monthly update for the month of May 2021.

Total Views by Month

Looking at total views provides interesting insight. Towards the end of the 2020 Artsakh War (when the trilateral agreement was signed) the total number of views reached nearly 500M. The views in the months following the war dropped to the 100–200M range and this level has been sustained until now.

For this reporting month, May 2021, the total views are slightly elevated when compared with April, most likely due to the pre-election atmosphere in Armenia.

Which Armenian YouTube channels get the most views?

As with previous months, the top slots in viewership rankings are occupied by Armenian Public TV (channel is named Լուրեր or News in English), Azatutyun and other foreign funded media such as Factor TV, and several anonymous channels (labeled as “Suspicious”) that are gaining an ever more increasing share in views. Out of the 60 top channels shown above, nearly half are “suspicious” channels.

The channels in the Suspicious category are part of the “Perfect TV” phenomenon where seemingly a large number of channels of unknown provenance, commonly spreading fake or unverified news, have become some of the most popular and most viewed channels in Armenia.

● Can Perfect TV help sway Armenian election results?

Monthly views by channel for May 2021

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Monthly views of Armenian Youtube channels (with >500K views)

Most popular channels

● Լուրեր (Lurer, owned by Armenian Public TV) - 13M views +59%

● Ազատություն (funded by US government) - 11M views +20%

● Perfect TV (the most notorious fake news channel) - 10M views -16%

Government channels

● Լուրեր - 13M views +59%

● Armenian Public TV - 6M views +2%

Suspicious channels

● Perfect TV 10M views -16%

● ArmNkr news 8M views +64%

● New Channel tv 7M views +134%

Opposition (HSM)

● HAYELI AM 6M views +55%

● NEWS AM 6M views +16%

● ArmNews 4M views +72%

Opposition (Other)

● ԱԶԳԱՅԻՆ - ԺՈՂՈՎՐԴԱՎԱՐԱԿԱՆ ԲԵՎԵՌ 3M views +76%

● Noyan Tapan TV 3M views +48%

● Բաց TV 2M views +30%

Foreign Funded

● Ազատություն 11M views +20%

● Factor tv 9M views +24%

● 1in TV 7M views +64%

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Which Channels Have the Most Subscribers?

The chart below only includes those channels that publish their subscriber count. Many channels in the “Suspicious” category, such as Perfect TV, choose not to disclose the number of subscribers.

Subscription count of Armenian YouTube channels with monthly rate of change

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent the opinions of the author’s employer.