Tamil Nadu’s farmers turn Youtube stars, get 10 M subscribers, create history

“Ellarum vaanga, always welcomes you!” this line of the Village Cooking Channel has become much popular in the last three years. The farmers-turned-YouTube stars from Tamil Nadu have created history by becoming the first channel from Tamil Nadu to have one crore (10 million) subscribers.

The YouTubers from a small village, Chinna Veeramangalam in Pudukkottai district, gained international popularity over the last few years due to their traditional cooking videos. During the election campaign time, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also visited them which increased their popularity. The team had said that they had nearly 10,000 subscribers per week but after Rahul Gandhi’s visit, the number increased to nearly 30,000 to 40,000 per week. The video featuring Rahul Gandhi has 26 million views.

The channel members which include cousins V Subramanian, V Murugesan, V Ayyanar, G Tamilselvan and T Muthumanickam, are led by their grandfather M Periyathambi, who was a former caterer. During their Diamond Play button unboxing video, the team said that they got into making YouTube videos during the time when they did not have any cultivation to be done. “We have agriculture work for six months and the rest of the time we do not have much to do. That is when we decided to start the channel,” said Subramanian.

The unboxing video showed Periyathambi breaking down after being overwhelmed by the support the channel has received. “I started my cooking journey when I was 25 and now I am 70 and I never imagined that I would make such a name. I am grateful to all the people who have loved our work,” said a teary-eyed Periyathambhi.

The team earns around Rs 7 lakh per month from the ad revenue from YouTube views. Recently the team had also met Chief Minister MK Stalin and had handed over a check of Rs 10 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund (CMPRF) to aid the fight against COVID-19.