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Tag: Mitron TV

  • Mitron TV launches new initiatives to enhance user engagement

    Mitron TV launches new initiatives to enhance user engagement

    Mumbai: In a bid to enhance viewer engagement and promote its content creators, homegrown short video app Mitron TV has announced two prime initiatives: ‘The 7 PM Show’ and ‘In-App Quiz’.

    ‘7 PM Show’ is a live session that majorly focuses on giving a platform to the upcoming creators and it will be broadcast every Friday at 7 pm on the Mitron app; ‘In-App Quiz’ called #JeetoCash1000 is a knowledge-based quiz that encourages consumers to participate and win cashback rewards, the app said in a statement.

    “At a time when people are at home, the social media universe has witnessed massive growth in the number of creators and users that have shown active contribution on many social media platforms,” said Mitron TV co-founder & CEO, Shivank Agarwal. “As a short format video platform, we strive to provide a platform that is both entertaining and informative. We believe that it is important to unwind in these difficult times, which is why we have launched interactive games that are both engaging and rewarding for the audience.”

  • 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.

  • Mitron turns one: Vernacular, monetisation to be key focus areas

    Mitron turns one: Vernacular, monetisation to be key focus areas

    KOLKATA: In last June, a number of short video platforms stepped into the limelight after the Indian government’s unceremonious ban on popular Chinese-origin app, TikTok. After riding on the initial wave of fame, these homegrown apps have now started solidifying their business models. This comes at a time when big league players like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are raising the stakes in the short form video space. Mitron TV, which turned one this April, has rolled out new monetisation models for creators and is looking at various innovative solutions for higher engagement on the app.

    The video sharing app that started with two people now consists of 55+ people in the team. While it is scaling operations across the board, tech is taking centre stage, said Mitron TV CEO & co-founder Shivank Agarwal. With new initiatives, the platform has set the target of 100 million users in the next six months. For the second year, the focus is on how it can go bullish on vernacular and drive monetisation for creators, he added.

    Other new features like Mitron Club, Mitron Academy and Mitron On-Demand have been introduced in the app. Through Club, creators can churn out engaging content exclusively for users opting for the service. Through Mitron Academy, content creators get an opportunity to share educational videos to help users learn from the platform. Additionally, with Mitron On-Demand, users will be able to place requests for on-demand content across segments.

    Recently, Mitron rolled out the Editor Tool to help remove creators’ dependency to log on to other video editing apps to edit their content. Post this launch, the number of videos created using Mitron camera has jumped 50 per cent. Moreover, the platform has lately seen a huge growth in creator to user ratio, Agarwal stated. Currently, 22 per cent of the total user base falls under the creator category.

    To increase brand recall, the Made in India app has also created an opinion platform where users can create videos or add text in different topics – be it sports, politics, entertainment. The initiative has been rolled out to encourage users to create a social asset. Once they come in and create a social asset, the recall to the platform increases a lot, shared Agarwal. Mitron TV is focusing more on the users who are liking, commenting, participating in opinions, along with watching videos as it aims to establish itself as a short video social media platform.

    At present, the highest number of users hail from Maharashtra, making up 19 per cent of the overall base. In the western region, Gujarat is also contributing highly to its user base. Among other states, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Haryana, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha make up the lion’s share of members. From the age group perspective, most users belong to the 25-34 segment, followed by 18-24, 35-44, 45+ age groups.

    While the platform is eying at markets as its next frontier for growth, Mitron TV CTO and co-founder Anish Khandelwal said that the recommendation engine is already in place to boost the growth but content strategy needs to be aligned in that line.

    “I think everybody is trying to innovate the revenue model, somebody is trying the 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,” he commented.

    “If we can convert 20 per cent customer audience into paying customers, that will be a good target for us,” he added. The platform is developing recommendations for users in such a way that it includes exploration along with personalisation. It does not want to personalise user experience in such a way that it becomes monotonous for the consumer, Khandelwal explained. Moreover, developers are focusing on the metric that if the app is showing a video to the user, he should finish the video.

    At a time when short video platforms are splurging on media spend, roping in brand ambassadors, Mitron TV execs want their product to stay low-key. Agarwal stated that they have avoided media spend but users have organically liked the app. The platform is prioritising technology and improving experience for users to improve retention and engagement, rather than going on an acquisition spree by burning cash.

    “For us, infotainment and edutainment are two important pillars we are very bullish about. And on the content perspective, technology perspective, recommendation engine and editor tool, we want to create differentiation. The overall idea is anybody with any knowledge to share, skill to share should come to the platform, engage on the platform,” Agarwal concluded.

  • Mitron TV appoints Bhawin Jagad as product design director

    Mitron TV appoints Bhawin Jagad as product design director

    KOLKATA: Indian short-format video app Mitron has roped in Bhawin Jagad as director – product design. He brings with him more than a decade of experience in technical leadership and product design.

    In his new role, Jagad will lead the development of new product designs whilst working on improving existing designs. He will also oversee the implementation of product design policies and will evaluate the feasibility of new design ideas. He joins Mitron’s senior leadership team and will work closely with vice-president of product Rumit Anand.

    Prior to his role at Mitron, Jagad served as director of product design at InVideo, an online video creator, where he was responsible for creating and successfully launching two versions of the online video editor. A self-taught UI and UX designer, Bhawin has experience across multiple sectors such as fintech, e-commerce, social media, digital and influencer marketing amongst others. He has previously worked with leading companies such as IFANow, The Glitch, and Stylabs, and served renowned brands like Google India, Lakme, Yamaha, Nutella, Fererro Rocher along with several Bollywood production houses.

     “I am delighted to welcome Bhawin to the Mitron family,” said Anand. “Bhawin brings with him a wealth of experience and has built some solid product solutions in his previous roles. His appointment reinforces Mitron’s mission of providing a world-class product. I’m looking forward to watching the team push the boundaries in the short video domain with innovations.”

    Jagad added, “I have joined a progressive company at a very exciting time. Mitron is a success story and has carved a niche for itself in the social media ecosystem. I am thrilled to be part of this journey and look forward to building high-quality usable product interfaces for users.”

  • Mitron TV launches ‘Atmanirbhar Anthem’

    Mitron TV launches ‘Atmanirbhar Anthem’

    KOLKATA: Short format video app Mitron TV has released the Atmanirbhar Anthem following the ban of 43 additional Chinese-origin apps by the Indian government. The anthem pays homage to the Indian technology community and reiterates the message of using homegrown products and services.

    The anthem’s powerful lyrics evoke strong feelings of national pride amongst Indians, whilst imparting a message on the importance of the #VocalForLocal movement. The anthem went live today on more than 200 music streaming platforms including Gaana, Spotify, Amazon Music, iTunes and Wynk.

    Atmanirbhar Apps was launched this year on the National Unity Day to bring noteworthy Indian apps from various geographies across the country on one platform. In just two weeks since the launch, Atmanirbhar Apps has recorded over 50K downloads and currently hosts more than 256 Indian apps. The initiative has been appreciated by leading personalities in the tech fraternity.

    CEO and co-founder Shivank Agarwal said, “We welcome the government’s move of banning 43 Chinese apps. Now more than ever, it is an opportune moment to focus on self-reliance and homegrown apps, which Indians have embraced whole-heartedly. To commemorate this spirit, we created the Atmanirbhar Anthem that pays homage to the country’s collective vision of embracing all things Made-in-India. I invite my fellow Indians to enjoy the upbeat lyrics and toe-tapping beat of this anthem as we work in unison to achieve our goal of an Atmanirbhar India.”

  • Mitron TV strengthens leadership team with two senior hires

    Mitron TV strengthens leadership team with two senior hires

    KOLKATA: In yet another bullish move, Indian short-format video app Mitron TV has announced the expansion of its leadership team with two senior hires. Former Bytedance executive Shyamanga Barooah has on board as head of content strategy and senior journalist Biswarup Gooptu, who spent 10 years at the Economic Times, has joined as head of partnerships & policy.

    In his new role, Barooah will be responsible for developing and optimizing a tailored content strategy, whilst driving the best content practices for internal and external stakeholders. Gooptu will focus on driving public policy for the company and building government alliances.

    Barooah is a seasoned media professional with over 20 years of experience in journalism, content creation and management. Prior to his current role, he was the content operation head of Helo and chief editor of News Republic, which is part of ByteDance Inc, the parent company of TikTok. He has also worked for global firms like Cheetah Mobile and leading media houses like India Today, Times Internet and Hindustan Times. A former member of a blues band, he continues to follow his passion for music.

    An alumnus of Cardiff University UK, Gooptu is a media veteran with over 15 years of experience in journalism. During his stint at the Economic Times, Gooptu covered the Indian start-up ecosystem, private equity and venture capital funding amongst other beats. He has also worked with Reuters and Telegraph.

    Mitron co-founder and CEO Shivank Agarwal said: “The impact of short-video consumption and digital entertainment is growing at a rapid pace, making this sector one of the most exciting in present times. At Mitron, we are in a robust growth phase and continuing to reinvent ourselves. With Shyamanga and Biswarup’s expertise, we look forward to further strengthening our proposition and scale the business to the next level.”

    Mitron content strategy head Shyamanga Barooah said: "It's great to be part of Mitron's amazing journey in the short-format video space in India. I feel there is a lot of opportunity within this dynamic space, especially in a storytelling and vibrant nation like India.”

    “I am delighted to be joining the company’s leadership team at such a pivotal time in its growth. This is an exciting time for Indian technology landscape and we are poised to become one of the leading short-video social media application,”  Mitron partnerships and policy head Biswarup Gooptu said.

    In just seven months, Mitron app has crossed 39 million-plus downloads on Android Play Store. As part of its efforts to support the government’s initiative of ‘Vocal for Local’, Mitron recently launched Atmanirbhar Apps, a one of its kind discovery platform for Indian applications. Currently, the platform hosts more than 100 apps and plans to bring 500 apps by the end of this year. Mitron was also the first in the space to launch categories to build vibrant communities of like-minded audiences. This particular initiative enabled users to discover the content of their interest and creators to engage with like-minded followers.

  • Mitron TV goes vocal for local with Atmanirbhar Apps

    Mitron TV goes vocal for local with Atmanirbhar Apps

    KOLKATA: Homegrown short video app Mitron TV has unveiled a discovery platform called Atmanirbhar Apps on the occasion of National Unity Day. With the launch of Atmanirbhar Apps, Mitron TV wants to urge people to become ‘Vocal for Local’ and to bring the spotlight on Indian apps from various geographies.

    The app envisions to strengthen homegrown technology on a grand scale by making it easier for users to identify Indian apps for their various needs. Currently, the platform hosts more than 100 apps across categories like e-governance, utility, agriculture, gaming, entertainment, lifestyle, and e-learning, among others. It plans to bring 500 more by the end of this year to bolster its roster that includes Kifayat, Grocit, Jain Thela, Home Shoppy, YourQuote, Vridhi Stores, Xploree AI Keyboard, mParivahan, and more.

    Mitron co-founder & CEO Shivank Agarwal said, “It gives me immense pride and pleasure to bring Atmanirbhar Apps to the Indian users on National Unity Day. After PM Modi’s clarion call in May this year to be Atmanirbhar, and to focus on the creation of a Made in India ecosystem, we felt that it’s highly important to let users discover noteworthy Indian apps that are doing exceptional work to keep India running. This is a small effort by Mitron TV to celebrate self-reliance and promote domestic businesses.”

    Mitron co-founder & CTO  Anish Khandelwal said, “When we launched the Mitron TV app, we never imagined that users will shower us with so much affection that we will cross 39 million downloads within six months. This validated our belief that Indians have a trust factor towards local apps, which led us to launch Atmanirbhar Apps.’’

    Mitron TV has also kicked off the #AtmanirbharPledge campaign to support the visible momentum for #VocalForLocal. The campaign appeals to Indian users to choose domestic substitutes in the app world, and channelize their support for an Atmanirbhar Bharat.

  • Mitron App introduces categories for video content

    Mitron App introduces categories for video content

    Indian short-format video app Mitron has become the first in the space to introduce categories. As a result, Mitron is providing a bespoke service that matches categories based on the talent of content creators to specific interests of viewers. On the app users can see content organised in affinity-based categories, enabling them to discover content of their interest with one click. Content creators, based on their skillsets, will be able to create an engaged community of followers. Categories thus enable users to enjoy greater control over the content they view, whilst also providing a fillip to content distribution, by ensuring that the right content is discovered by the right audience. The app downloads have crossed 35 million on the Android play store.

    To begin with, user-generated videos have been mapped against 15 categories such as entertainment, food, funny, sports, travel and nature, education, motivation, devotion, dance, lifestyle, music, health and fitness and pets, amongst others. This will offer an experience that is unlike the typical user experience on short video apps, where users do not necessarily discover videos that have a perfect match with their interests and content creators do not always get the exposure they deserve among the audience that appreciate such content. Mitron app will keep adding more categories for skillsets; enabling more Indian talent to find their following. Going forward Mitron plans to build strong and vibrant micro-communities around categories and give each category a life of its own; content creators and distributors finding an audience that is relevant to them and is invested in them.

    Read more stories on user-generated content

    “With this launch, there’s finally a home for new local independent voices to build, share and inspire audiences in the farthest corners of the nation. This is going to transform how short video content is organised and discovered. Our aim has been to promote and give our content creators an opportunity to showcase their skills to a Bharat audience that is interested in their content. One click is all that it will take to make the match happen. We will grow every category on Mitron into a community of passionate content creators and their followers. The possibilities here are endless, based on the talent of creators and the interest of users. This will be a game changer in the space,” Mitron TV founder Shivank Agarwal said.