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Tag: Bolo Indya

  • Bolo Indya temporarily removed from Google Playstore

    New Delhi: Google has temporarily removed home-grown social media app Bolo Indya from Playstore following a copyright complaint made by music giant T-Series. The live-streaming platform has around 70 lakh users.

    Super Cassettes Industries Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand name T-Series is the largest music record label in the Indian music industry. Last year, the company served an infringement notice to social media and video sharing platforms to pay around Rs 3.5 crore in damages from using its copyrighted contents and “render accounts of all revenues illegally earned” by the platforms from the copyrighted content.

    While most of the companies including Mitron, MX Player’s Takatak, Triller, and Josh have settled the issue with the music company, Bolo Indya has not resolved the matter yet, according to T-Series.

    “We had sent them (Bolo Indya) various legal notices but they continued to infringe our copyrights and, thus, we wrote to Google under applicable laws to take down this infringing app from their app store. We take infringement very seriously and will not shy away from taking more stringent legal action against Bolo Indya and any other such infringing platforms to protect our copyrights,” T-Series president Neeraj Kalyan told PTI.

    Bolo Indya spokesperson said the company is temporarily unavailable from Google Playstore due to some conflicts with T-Series and it is in talks with T-Series and Google to resolve the issue at the earliest and the platform will be back on playstore shortly.

    “We assure our users that all their created content and transaction details for in-app currency purchases are safe and Bolo Indya will be back soon on playstore for them to continue having their friends download the app to enjoy the new features,” said the spokesperson.

  • Will Indian short-video apps’ monetisation experiments pay off?

    Will Indian short-video apps’ monetisation experiments pay off?

    KOLKATA: The popularity of short snackable videos exploded in India with the advent of TikTok. While it was on the way to be the indisputable leader with top influencers, premium brands, and a growing number of users, geopolitical tension curtailed the dream journey. When several homegrown apps emerged to plug the market gap left by TikTok, many experts had been sceptical about their sustainability.

    However, these apps did not tank – in fact, the ‘Made in India’ apps collectively have managed to capture TikTok’s market share. These platforms have secured 97 per cent of the Chinese app’s users, a recent report from consulting firm ReedSeer suggested. However, the time spent reaching 55 per cent of what it was in June shows there are more opportunities to boost engagement. While many of these apps are raising funds, using the capital to scale up the operations, build robust technology, adding new features, they have started looking at monetisation potentials as well.

    Unleashing brand partnership opportunities

    One of the apps that have emerged as a leading player in the ecosystem is MX TakaTak, the short video arm of MX Player. “For short video platforms, there are a variety of monetisation opportunities available. One is obviously the ad-based model, where we sell inventory to different brands. We are not focusing on that too much at the moment,” MX TakaTak business head Janhavi Parikh said.

    For now, the platform’s primary focus is to work with brands to run branded hashtag challenges to drive engagement. “Although it’s in pretty early stages for us, a lot of brands are interested in doing this. But we are taking things slow. Branded challenges, influencer marketing are big opportunities to grow monetisation,” Parikh added.

    Chingari has also tried out hashtag challenges for brands that are very popular on the platform, co-founder & CEO Sumit Ghosh said. Brands can float a hashtag and then offer money to influencers, creators to create content for the brand. It’s a win-win for the brands and creators as brands pay the latter and the platform amplifies the brand. However, the app is overall not very bullish about direct advertisements as those disrupt the user experience, he noted.

    Another homegrown app Bolo Indya has partnered with brands to do content marketing using live streaming with creators where there could be a product positioning during the live stream or purely working with a brand for brand recall being the primary objective, Bolo Indya CEO and founder Varun Saxena shared.

    Expanding the role of social commerce

    Rather than depending only on advertisers, the apps are also coming up with innovative initiatives. Take for example Chingari – the app that’s dominating the vernacular markets is experimenting with several routes. “We will get into monetisation at a later stage but right now we are just testing certain methods,” Chingari’s Ghosh said.

     “We have recently produced video commerce technology where every video that gets uploaded to Chingari, you will see a shop button on the video, powered by AI & ML. Basically, what we are doing is finding out shoppable objects within the video and comparing with the live catalogue of Amazon and showing what products you can buy from Amazon,” he explained.

    The chosen model will impact revenue as well. For Bolo Indya, it will not be a backend set-up but will be launched under a partnership model with an e-commerce player. MX TakaTak has also been toying with the idea. Lifestyle content focused short video platform Trell also entered this segment at the beginning of this year, partnering with over 500 brands across makeup, personal care, health and wellness categories.

    Building consumer-creator direct engagement

    “I think everybody is trying to innovate revenue model, somebody is trying e-commerce model, somebody is going the advertisement way. Everybody has to find which model suits their product and how to benefit. The good part for us is we have seen a good trend in terms of users spending on the platform, not just time but some money since last quarter,” Mitron TV CEO and co-founder Shivank Agarwal previously said in an interview.

    The app, which recently celebrated its first anniversary, has opened up different monetisation opportunities. One such feature is Mitron Club, Through the Club, creators can churn out engaging content exclusively for users opting for the service. The Club members can also directly connect with creators to request to create content that they would like to watch. Consumers subscribe for Rs 99 per month to become a part of the entire ecosystem of the creator.

    In addition to that, it has unveiled an on-demand service wherein consumers can ask specific help of creators and they can create videos around the queries asked by the audience.

    Direct engagement between consumers and creators to drive monetisation is a key focus for Bolo Indya. On this app, content creators can create online services and post on the platform which are delivered on a real-time interactive basis to audiences through one-to-one, one-to-many live interactions, Bolo Indya’s Saxena said. This could be an astrologer conducting an astrology session with someone or a comic creator doing stand-up comedy show for a group of audiences on a pre-ticker basis. The app takes a platform fee and the rest of the share goes to creators.

    “Our application primarily revolves around the core of enabling the content creators to monetise their content. When we native them to monetise their content on the platform, we see a revenue share out of it,” Saxena stated.

    Another major mode of monetisation for the app is through live streaming. Any creator can go and live stream and people who are watching those live streams can send gifts to those creators. These gifts can be purchased by the audience paying real money on the platform, Saxena said. Whatever the value of the gifts end up being the earning of the content creators and the platform takes a revenue share out of it. Hence, the app highly relies on consumer microtransactions which start from as low as Rs 10 and goes up to Rs 5000.

    Tapping into booming ed-tech opportunities

    Interestingly, some of these platforms are looking at ed-tech as an opportunity to bring in money. Mitron Academy is one such initiative where the creators get an opportunity to share educational videos to help users learn from the platform. It has onboarded a number of experts on different topics.

    Chingari is also working on an edtech offering called ‘Chingari Skill’ which will be launched soon. Thanks to this product, any Chingari user will be able to sell their skills. According to Ghosh, it will leave a lot of scopes for users to create such content in vernacular language as most ed-tech content is either in English or in Hindi. Notably, a large part of Chingari’s user base comes from tier-3 and tier-4 cities.

    Future opportunities

    “We have few other revenue streams in the pipeline which include launching creator rooms where the creator can post social games live learning sessions around fitness, wellness, health etc on the platform for a closed room of the audience creating their own customisation by the platform,” Saxena said.

    While MX TakaTak is already doing live streaming, Parikh seems optimistic that there are a multitude of monetisation opportunities in live streaming over time. The bigger ones could be e-commerce as well as virtual gifting, all of which will be explored in near future.

    How far is profitability?

    As the platforms are trying to build sustainable revenue models, the question of when these models will turn profitable also arises. However, Chingari is not focusing on profitability at the moment and is devoting its energies to distribution, to reach the maximum numbers of users. Ghosh added that it may take two years down the line to become profitable.

    However, Bolo Indya’s Saxena claimed the platform is very close to breaking even at the current scale as well when it comes to the monetisation side. He expects the app to be profitable in the next 12-15 months.

    “If we look towards China, after the first few years, Kuaishou, as well as Douyin, have done phenomenally well because the growth has been so huge. With all of the different monetisation opportunities kicked in, it probably took three-four or even five-six years. If we follow that China model, revenue opportunity is huge and profitability follows definitely,” Parikh commented without revealing any timeline.

  • Niine launches exclusive campaign on Bolo Indya

    Niine launches exclusive campaign on Bolo Indya

    NEW DELHI: Bolo Indya, the fastest growing short-form video content platform has partnered with Niine, the leading hygiene and personal Care brand as its “hygiene partner” to create social awareness on “menstrual hygiene” amongst its women users on the platform.

    As part of the partnership, Niine launches  #letstalk periods- 7 days campaign, starting from 11 October exclusively on the Bolo Indya platform, invites users and creators to post engaging video content, highlighting various myths around menstruation while also challenging the country’s entrenched taboos about menstruation.

    During the campaign, Niine will also be posting various experts' videos on their official page on the Bolo Indya platform to create awareness on menstrual hygiene and share valuable tips on the subject.

    Bolo Indya co-founder and CEO Varun Saxena said, “We take pride in joining hands with a responsible brand like Niine who is tirelessly working towards bringing social awareness around the much neglected subject of women’s personal hygiene in the Country. 42 per cent videos created on a daily basis are by female Bolo Indyans who on an average have 100K+ follower base, thus would act as the perfect influencers to convey the message to deeper towns and cities of India”. “On the sidelines of International girl child day, we at Bolo Indya remain committed to join Niine in this important mission to eradicate the social taboo around menstrual hygiene” he further added. 

    Niine co-founder Sharat said, “Awareness about menstrual hygiene is a must and our partnership with Bolo Indya will ensure a wider reach amongst tier 2/3 cities where menstruation still remains as a taboo. It’s time the masses talk period”

    “Niine’s campaign, #LetsTalkPeriods aims at breaking the taboos around Menstruation and encourages both men and women to talk about it openly. Bolo Indya provides us a platform to change mindsets and take a stand for women and girls for their menstrual hygiene” He further added.

    How to participate in the campaign

    ●        Open Bolo Indya app

    ●        Click on #Letstalkperiods hashtag to participate

    ●        Users can create original engaging video content with songs having red in it

    ●        Women users can also switch their profile picture wearing red and post videos celebrating menstruation, while discussing the myths associated with it in an engaging way.  

    ●        Share, reshare the content created on the platform via other social media handles such as Instagram, youtube etc tagging Bolo Indya and Niine for enhancing the reach and engagement

    Daily winners will be announced by Bolo Indya on the platform as well as other official social media handles of Bolo Indya and Niine basis the content quality, its reach and engagement and  will get goodies and gift hampers from Niine.

    Bolo Indya is the fastest growing short-video content platform with over 65 monthly active users and is present in over 14 languages in the Country. Niine Hygiene and Personal Care has been actively working and are committed towards making menstrual hygiene accessible to all. Niine is also the principal sponsor for Rajasthan Royals, for the Indian Premier League 2020 this year.

  • TikTok ban forces influencers to shift to homegrown short-form video apps

    TikTok ban forces influencers to shift to homegrown short-form video apps

    New Delhi: On Monday, thousands had a career in making videos and overnight they are jobless, adding to the existing recession in the country. TikTok was not just a source of entertainment for many but also a way to earn their daily bread and butter. Right after the ban, the app became unavailable for download on Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store in India. 

    TikTok, which has amassed more than 200 million users in India, identifies Asia’s third-largest economy as its biggest overseas market. Over the years, the platform has become a favourite amongst brands for influencer marketing. 

    Mirum India director of business development- Srikant Subramanian said that the budgets on influencer marketing will continue to remain. The marketers realise that influencers are the ones who are creating meaningful relationships for their brands with consumers and using those influencers would be key for their endeavours.

    “The next few months will be critical from an analytics POV. We will start to see the movement of audiences and behaviour of content consumption on existing large channels. Basis that, the brands will need to change strategies when that happens. In the short term, depending on the channel, brands will continue to do what they are doing now,” Subramanian adds.

    Zirca Digital Solutions CEO and director Neena Dasgupta is of the opinion that the platform’s rise has been phenomenal and what is interesting is that not only did people adapt to its format rather quickly but people stuck to the platform. 

    “In its absence, this huge number of users will migrate to other platforms and everything from digital marketing budgets to consumer engagement strategies will need to be rejigged. The marketing spends – particularly on influencers – were on the rise and the ban will lead to the reallocation of these budgets. So, the influencer marketing system is in for a change. For new platforms similar to TikTok it is going to be an opportunity to acquire and for existing platforms, it could be an opportunity to adapt as well as acquire."

    TikTok, which was blocked in India for a week last year but was accessible to users who had already installed the app on their smartphones, said last year in a court filing that it was losing more than $500,000 a day. According to reports, ByteDance had planned to invest $1 billion in India to expand the reach of TikTok, a plan that now appears to have been derailed.

    As per the Indian government’s statements, the ban of TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps is in response to the alleged possibility of data theft and security breach of Indian nationals, due to the ongoing geopolitical Indo-China tension.

    According to Dasgupta, Data security has been a long-pending agenda for the government. “I would not be surprised if this is accompanied by further bans irrespective of the source of the apps. The need of the hour are policies that can safeguard internet users and their privacy and we are yet to see these policies and how they are implemented.”

    Marcom Avenue director Divanshi Gupta says that India is working on undertaking various campaigns and projects that will make the country self-reliant regarding Chinese companies in power and mobile technology. “The country is home to multiple brands working on a three-pronged strategy (restart, restore and resurgence) to boost in-house technology and innovation while uplifting manufacturing in the national state,” she says.

    However, Gupta says that the decision to ban Chinese apps may not be directly classified as an "economic sanction" as China is a massive investor in the Indian business diaspora. It is more because of the national security threat and data theft.

    Content creator Ankush Bahuguna, who makes several videos on social media platforms including TikTok, says that due to the ban on the app, he will have one less platform to expand his universe and to engage with the audience. 

    "I think it is going to have a huge impact on creators who were making content exclusively on TikTok. The shift to a new platform means starting from scratch and I can't imagine how difficult it must be for so many people. I think it will be nice if other content creators could step in and help out TikTokers build themselves back on other platforms because I've seen a lot of TikTokers create very entertaining content and they deserve to stay relevant regardless of what happens to one app," he says. 

    RJ Sukriti Chaturvedi, popular content creator on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube who is known for her quirky and funny videos on social media platform says that if a breach of privacy has been conducted on the app, then it’s best that users shift to some other platform which ensures security. “It’s a piece of sad news for content creators who rose to fame through TikTok but there are other platforms too like Instagram or Youtube which can also add value for content creators.”

    The short-form video app also became advertisers’ new darling, mainly due to the access it gives to advertisers to creators and consumers. 

    “TikTok will suffer but Bytedance is a trooper,” Subramanian mentions. “They will find a way to make revenue. A lot depends on the regulation bit. Overall advertisers will be fine, they will split the audience and hence mostly split the revenue in the long term. It all depends on how long the void remains. I suspect many new apps will launch, and some existing ones like Hike could take advantage and then add some new features – especially since the markets are the same.”

    TikTok ban in India has already forced its users to look for alternatives. TikTok creators are requesting their fans to follow them on other social media platforms including Instagram and YouTube. Many influencers are also welcoming the latest move by the government. Whether it is Mitron, Chingari or Bolo Indya, the Indian rivals of the Chinese video-sharing app are hoping to grow their presence in the country and expand their user base by attracting several TikTokers to their platforms.

    “This would help Indian UGC platforms to garner content creators at a much higher pace and organically. Cost of creator acquisition will tend to reduce drastically due to this. This shall also enable a lower cost of consumer acquisition as many creators would be bringing in their follower base (to some extent) on to the Indian UGCs which they finally opt for creating videos going forward. For example, we have seen over one lakh new content creators join Bolo indya in last 24 hours at zero cost, and more than five lakh videos being created by them in last 24 hours, enabling them to go viral on Bolo Indya in least possible team, much quicker than other Indian UGCs,” shares Bolo Indya founder Varun Saxena.

    Saxena adds that since Monday, the platform has witnessed 10x surge in traction. “However, this has increased to 30x and we have hardly seen any downtime (apart from little speed issues for a few minutes) as compared to some of the other Indian UGCs which went down for hours today. We have taken requisite measures both on application server and database server sides and we are now ready to handle 80x surge in traffic from here.”

  • TikTok ban: Indian UGC apps ready to take on traffic; see advertiser interest too

    TikTok ban: Indian UGC apps ready to take on traffic; see advertiser interest too

    KOLKATA: TikTok had become a rage among millions of Indian youth until the Indian government’s interim ban crushed its multi-billion dollar strategy. Creators, influencers and marketers will have to seek an alternative platform as the future of TikTok remains uncertain in the country. But the flip side of the story is a silver-lining for Indian platforms and video sharing apps which are now poised to grow fast. UGC platforms like Roposo and Bolo Indya have started seeing a massive user base shift to their platforms.

    These homegrown apps had already been growing since the last few weeks when the call to use local brands started. With the recent decision of the government, they are set to see never-expected traffic, at least the instant reaction seems so. Bolo Indya co-founder Varun Saxena says it saw over one lakh new creators joining the platform in less than 24 hours and around five lakh new videos had already been created. Roposo co-founder Mayank Bhangadia says a number of TikTok influencers have already announced their shift to the Indian short video app. He adds that it will direct followers to the platform as well.

    “It is a big boost for most of the short video platforms because these creators will look for a new platform. It’s a big opportunity for Indian applications from the perspective of getting new creators and high volume also,” Saxena adds.

    However, he also mentions that most of the TikTok influencers are now exploring where they can get a good follower which includes Instagram and YouTube too. He adds that for a few days they will be creating content on all the platforms and will stick to one once they get a loyal audience. Saxena says Bolo Indya is favourable to creators compared to others as its format, interface, time length is very similar to TikTok. 

    According to Bhangadia, this change is extremely good for an Indian entrepreneur and will give them a very good boost. He says that they have got calls from close to 20 brands inquiring about how to advertise on Roposo the morning after the ban. They are hopeful that the shift will be happening in the next few days.

    “Roposo is best positioned because we have been working for the last few years and we have built a product which is not available anywhere in India. The kind of camera feature we have along with other features is not available on all apps. The holistic nature of the platform is able to accommodate many communities. We don’t focus only on lip sync or short act. We have all kind of talented people. Hence, creators are shifting to us,” he adds.

    Saxena says that they were already doing content marketing working with certain brands. And the major reason brands were working with the platform despite the fact that it had less volume compared to TikTok was the higher spending power of users on the app compared to TikTok and Helo. While new creators will give it a better volume also, Saxena is optimistic that they would definitely see more and more brands coming to Indian applications for content marketing.

    “In a short to medium term, advertisers and agencies will look at alternate platforms to help them meet their marketing goals. Some of the banned platforms are sizeable, so it would be difficult to find an immediate apparent replacement. In this case, a combination of replacements or an increase in presence in existing platforms can be an option. Also, the ban is still a little unclear from an implementation standpoint. The downloaded apps are still running, though new downloads are at a halt. If the government calls for a complete ban, things will go south for these platforms. Even then, I don’t believe brands will advertise on these apps, fearing public outrage,” TheSmallBigIdea CEO and co-founder Harikrishnan Pillai says.

    “For influencers, from a short-term POV, the business will be affected if they have had a single platform focus. From a long-term perspective, Indian apps have a great opportunity to grow. ‘Revenge Download’ will lead to a sudden spike of Indian apps. Whether they manage to be sticky and effective, time will tell,” Pillai adds.

    While the sudden spike in traffic will be a pressure on the apps, they are ready to take on new users. Saxena says they had started updating their infrastructure a couple of weeks back because it was expecting something like this to take place. They have been pro-actively ready to take the kind of surge it saw since Monday night. As he shares, there was hardly 1.5 minutes of downtime because it was upgrading infrastructure.

    Bhangadia is also confident about Roposo’s engineering team. He also says that the team has been preparing because the app had seen surge coming in the last four months since the lockdown started. It got accelerated in the last few weeks when people started shifting to Indian products. He also mentions that they are part of a much larger InMobi group. 

    "This is a welcome move from the government against platforms that have had serious privacy, cybersecurity and national security risks. We expect the government to continue their support for the Indian startup ecosystem,” ShareChat public policy director Berges Malu comments. 

  • Bolo Indya makes big moves and redrafts several HR policies

    Bolo Indya makes big moves and redrafts several HR policies

    MUMBAI: With Work from Home (WFH) culture becoming the new norm during and post-Covid2019, Bolo Indya, a UGC short videos app has also come up with a new WFH model for all its employees even after lockdown ends. While maintaining full operations for the business, Bolo Indya ensures that employees are safe and well taken care of. The core leadership team will resume office from July, Bolo Indya has announced that a blanket ‘Work from Home’ policy will be granted for the rest of the team till September 2020. The enterprise has introduced multiple significant changes in the HR policies to take care of both work-related efficiency, and mental wellbeing as well as the physical health of all of the team members.

    Being a responsible employer, Bolo Indya is committed to support employees with the option to work from the comfort of their homes and takes continuous efforts to encourage their mental wellness amidst the ongoing crisis. Understanding employee’s liabilities and the efforts that they take to ensure the business is run smoothly. Bolo Indya has redrafted a new WFH policy which sponsors the work from home area at the employees’ house as per which it provides – work stations, wifi, back support sitting facility, this is going to be sponsored by the company. Employees need to ensure a dedicated work from home area away from the bedroom for the same. Also, the company will be taking care of operational expenses of AC in the work from home area of employees’ house. There will be mandatory 6 leaves in the quarter to ensure work balance and prevent over exhausting while working from home.

    Bolo Indya co-founder and CEO Varun Saxena said “We follow sports team culture at Bolo Indya, thus ensuring both the efficiency and holistic fitness of all our team members at all times. Our company wide motto is, “ESP – Execution, Speed, Perfection” and we trust our team members that they would not let anything compromise the company’s objectives and time bound goals irrespective of working from office or home.”

    Bolo Indya has continued its hiring activities even during lockdown and 3 new members have joined during the lockdown phase, while 2 more will be joining next month. Simultaneously, the company has aggressive hiring plans in technology team across Android, AI and ML roles for which remote interactions with multiple potential rockstars is going on.

    “We took lockdown and its consequences as an opportunity to interact with some extraordinary talents and explore the synergies to join us on our mission to enable Bharat to transform social capital to financial independence through short videos in regional languages. We did not do a single lay off, and continue to strengthen the team with the right fits who share the same passion, ambition, and motivation,” On hiring and the current job market scenario, Saxena added.

  • Will boycott of Chinese apps unleash new possibilities for local ones?

    Will boycott of Chinese apps unleash new possibilities for local ones?

    NEW DELHI: Chinese apps such as TikTok, Helo, Zoom, Bigo, Shareit, etc., are widely used in India, some even enjoying a monopoly. But the ongoing standoff between India and China is hitting at the sentiments of Indian users.

    Recently, Indian social reformer, Sonam Wangchuk, posted a video message on YouTube urging people to invest in ‘Made in India’ products and boycott Chinese products and mobile applications. It became a hit on
    Twitter too, and in a short span, #boycottchineseapps #boycottchineseproducts started trending on social media.

    The episode has resulted in a surge in downloads of homegrown apps like Roposo, Bolo Indya, Say Namaste, Mitro, and many others.

    Fulcro founder and MD Sabyasachi Mitter believes, “The anti-China sentiment is very high at this point and many consumers are uninstalling Chinese apps like TikTok. However, this is more likely a temporary phenomenon and most users will again use these apps once the political tensions ease. Apps are valuable for both its functionality as well as community. Local apps need not just build great user experience but also focus on community growth. We must
    remember that Telegram is a great messenger platform but has no user traction in India.”

    In the last two years, Chinese apps have been dominating the Indian app market and they have risen from 18 to around 45 in the top apps category on Google play store.

    Roposo has over 50 million users while Mitro is giving a tough competition to Tik Tok with over five million downloads. The recent growth in local apps has not only been about the number of downloads but also time spent. 

    Will advertisers be keen to invest in these apps despite their lower popularity?

    Sabyasachi replies, “A large part of display advertising today is through SSPs and DSPS and as the apps get eyeballs their inventory will be targetable through programmatic. Brands are more focused on buying audiences and not choosing specific apps or portals to advertise on.”

    Independent communications and marketing consultant Karthik Srinivasan, points out that advertisers usually look at the largest presence of their target audiences. “If the new made-in-India apps can convince advertisers that they do have a large pool of relevant target audiences, that could work. But these platforms are very new and are only growing the user base now. Compared to them, the established platforms have many more users that have been gained over the years. So, advertisers would naturally prefer a larger user base for their marketing.”

    iProspect India AVP – digital buying and planning Mihir Mehta says, “Advertisers will always look for the next best app or platform to advertise. So, if some of these apps are boycotted, the next best app in terms of reach will excite them whether it is Indian or not.”

    Makani Creatives MD and co-founder Sameer Makani opines that it is time to go for local and prefer local over foreign. “Advertisers can find alternatives to advertise on these apps as they can be cheaper in the market compared to existing social media giants. The Vocal for Local initiative is giving an opportunity for Indian apps and businesses to market-creating better possibilities,” he says.

    However, the apps need to work on some areas if the want to retain eyeballs.

    Mehta says, “Focus on awareness and discoverability of their app is important. Also, the attention span of users these days is very low. So, local apps should use this opportunity to better the product to be able to retain their customers.”

  • Creative content, diversity, smart recommendation engine & community building are key to UGC platform growth

    Creative content, diversity, smart recommendation engine & community building are key to UGC platform growth

    MUMBAI: While the last few years have seen the rise of online premium content, several consumers have also emerged as creators. The boom of user-generated content (UGC) has led to the adoption of a plethora of apps other than traditional video-streaming platforms. UGC platforms are here to stay but those need to focus more on personalisation, user information security, smarter recommendation engine and scaled up technology.

    Under The Content Hub Tech Series umbrella Indaintelevision.com hosted a virtual roundtable on the topic which saw Firework head of content and strategic partnerships Sudarshan Kadam, Roposo co-founder and VP product management Glance Avinash Saxena, Samosa Labs founder and ex-CEO Abhilash Inumella, Bolo Indya co-founder and CEO Varun Saxena, Akamai Technologies director of products – APJ Media Rishi Varma, Zee5 business head expansion projects and head of products Rajneel Kumar, moderated by Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari.

    The moderator started the session by charting out basic differences between over-the-top (OTT) platforms and UGC platforms. Akamai’s Verma pointed out that the biggest difference between UGC and OTT is the amount of content where the former trumps. He stated that on an average day, some of their UGC consumers individually can have 25,000-30,000 concurrent people broadcasting at any given point in time. While it comes to short videos, they are to the tune of a few millions every minute. 

    Bolo Indya’s Avinash Saxena said that one of the fundamental difference is the users holding power when it comes to UCGs. Along with showcasing talents, users can create multiple opportunities for themselves, even taking financial capital out of it. Inumella mentioned that the proliferation of smartphones has made it easier for common people to create content, leading to a boom in UGC. However, the panellists also noted that having different use cases, OTTs and UGCs can’t be looked at as contenders.

    Interestingly, one of the largest OTT platforms in India, Zee5, will soon venture into UGC. It is prepping itself for its entry into the segment through Hypershots. ZEE5’s Kumar said that the platform has been moving away from two primary types of content, catch up TV and original content in several categories like music videos, live TV and news, consistently over the last year. He noted that it's gaming platform partnered with Gameloft has seen upto six sessions a day per user each eight-minutes long, cementing its decision to work on UGC. 

    One of the major concerns for UGC platforms is content processing and monitoring content so it does not offend anyone. Firework’s Kadam said that it has AI, ML and human moderation for any content goes up on the platform. He added that whenever they see content is flagged by their system or moderation team, they go through the content to see that it is not hurting anyone’s sentiment. Since the platform is available across countries, it also keeps track of country-specific guidelines and sometimes opts for geo-blocking. Bolo Indya’s Avinash Saxena and Roposo’s Varun Saxena also spoke of multi-layered content monitoring. The former added that if the content is flagged they may not necessarily always remove from the platform but restrict to a certain community. 

    The experts agreed that content security is not a big concern for UGCs as they want to grow by getting their content shared across multiple platforms. However, impersonation and manipulation of content can be damaging for the platform. As the platforms have a long run ahead, experts believe more creativity of content, smart recommendation engine, diversity and community building will be key to growth. Even UGC platforms can look at the subscription model if they can add value to basic service while Firework already experimented with such a model.