Learn French: Une nuée d'abonnés va augmenter ce chiffre. - A swarm of subscribers is going to increase this figure.

The subject is a collective noun phrase, une nuée d'abonnés. In French, when a collective noun like une nuée, un groupe, or une foule is followed by de and a plural noun, the verb can often be either singular or plural. Here, using the singular va emphasizes the group as a single, overwhelming mass. If the speaker wanted to emphasize the individual subscribers acting, they could have used the plural vont.

Is nuée normally used for people? I thought it meant a storm cloud.

Une nuée literally means a large, thick cloud or a swarm of animals, like insects or birds. When applied to people, as in this sentence, it is a colorful metaphor meaning a massive, sudden influx or crowd, much like a swarm in English.

Why use chiffre here instead of nombre for the word figure?

While un nombre generally means a quantity or count, un chiffre refers specifically to a digit or an official statistic, such as sales figures, a subscriber count, or a metric on a screen. Because they are talking about a specific tracked metric, chiffre is the most natural choice here.

Why is there no article before abonnés? Shouldn't it be des abonnés?