With YouTube and Meta currently dominating the video advertising space, brands are increasingly looking at roping in UGC influencers (user generated influencers) for different types of campaigns, particularly video ads. This rise can be attributed to the ban of Tiktok in 2020, which, in turn, had left a huge content gap. Both Indian and international short form videos (SFV) latched on to the opportunity and went for the kill. Interestingly, India presently has a 250 million strong user base on SFV platforms with up to 70 per cent of them belonging to tier-II cities, semi-urban and rural centres. Mostly belonging to middle and high-income backgrounds, and with around 40 per cent of the users using these platforms for their online transactions, opportunities for monetisation are manifold. As a result, monetization facilities across ecommerce, online gaming and OTT video streaming sites are gaining popularity. A recent study by Redseer suggests that the rising popularity of UGC content platforms has helped create an ecosystem of 3.5 million influencers or new-age celebrities, who serve as the growth engine of SFV platforms. They influencers can be classified into four categories-micro, macro, mega and elite, each of who can earn over Rs. 1.5-2 lakh per month through advertising and live commerce.
Brands across categories are beginning to utilise homegrown SFV platforms given their value proposition, growing user base, monetisation potential and volume of online transactions. Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) as well as fashion are already collaborating with new-age influencers to log in larger audiences. Despite an ongoing funding winter in the startup landscape, advertorial spending is getting stabilized across SFV platforms. The focus is on tapping the advertising model that assures maximum returns. The growing popularity of Indian SFV platforms, according to marketing and branding experts and analysts, is a welcome development as it has furthered the ambit of digitization in the country while also maximizing value for platforms, brands and end-users through its data-led and language-inclusive approach. With the rise in disposable income among the predominant tier-2+users, the SFV landscape holds innumerable possibilities for monetisation. New-age models like live commerce and live gifting can also effectively help raise the bar.
Significantly, while global SFV platforms may be popular among urban users, the desi platforms have witnessed greater uptake in non-metro and semi-urban areas, apparently because of the availability of quality regional-language content created by local talent. Nearly 45 per cent of Indian SFV users reside in semi-urban and rural centers and interact with a diverse set of internet platforms ranging from gaming to ecommerce. After all, Indian SFV platforms have already invested significantly in Content Moderation Processes, which, in turn, has led to inflammatory material taking up less than 0.5 per cent of the total share of content. They have also seen an increase in Net Promoter Score to nearly 55 per cent, making them a tool that advertisers can bank upon. All they need to do at this juncture is to invest more on these and take measures to prevent content repetition and promote diversity across genres that will directly contribute towards increased engagement rates among audiences.
