Padel Smash TV just crossed one million subscribers on YouTube. The number is nice. Where the audience actually lives is the real story.
Every one of those million people chose to spend time with a padel show we built out of Miami, in English and Spanish. Whether you have been with us since episode one or found us last week: thank you.
When we started PSTV, there was no plan to become the world's leading padel podcast and YouTube channel. There was simply a sport we loved that did not yet have a media home, so we built one—racquet reviews, player interviews, club features and tournament coverage.
The map surprised us more than the number
Our top three countries for viewership are India, Indonesia and the United States. Close behind are the Middle East, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries as a group.
That is not a random list. It closely resembles a ranking of the fastest-growing padel markets on earth. India has grown from a few hundred players in 2022 to roughly 100,000 today. Indonesia's amateur player base has expanded dramatically, while the UAE has crossed 950 courts. The United States continues to grow at a healthy pace and still finished third on our own channel.
Media arrives before infrastructure
In a new sport, people search for rules, technique and community before a court exists close to home. Someone in Mumbai or Jakarta may be learning how to serve long before there is a club within twenty minutes.
We happened to be answering those questions, in languages people understood, at the moment millions were asking them for the first time. We did not engineer that outcome. We kept showing up, week after week and episode after episode.
What this changes for Padel Smash TV
The audience map gives us a clearer responsibility for what comes next.
- Create more translated and subtitled content for India and Indonesia.
- Feature the coaches and clubs building padel in emerging markets before those markets become obvious.
- Treat channel data as a growth signal, not merely a vanity metric.
The signal to watch
Subscriber growth from India and Indonesia over the next two quarters may tell us where the sport itself is headed. If it continues compounding near the pace of court growth, PSTV’s audience outside the United States could soon outnumber its US audience.
This channel exists because people keep showing up—Buenos Aires or Bangalore, Jakarta or Dubai, Miami or Manchester. Thank you for a million reasons. Here is to the next one.
Originally written by Julian Wortelboer and Cesc Caceres for Padel Smash TV.
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