Benefit Instagram, YouTube in short video space | Tech Reddy

Both companies said they are renewing their focus on short videos, as Indian startups continue to gain users in their growth.

On July 26, a tweet from Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, confirmed the platform’s move to video, and it was also confirmed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other CEO on his money call the next day. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, also said in its earnings call earlier this week that YouTube Shorts has 30 billion views per day, and that the company is “excited” to have place he gives.

The move may be spurred by the global success of Bytedance’s TikTok, but industry experts say they will most likely put pressure on Indian platforms. Not only do Instagram and YouTube have huge user bases through their traditional platforms, but they also have proven and mature monetization tools and technologies that marketers and creators love to grow the platforms.

The two most important, according to experts, are the “go-to” options for advertising. Some influencers say they tell their clients to avoid short video platforms. Instagram and YouTube only helped. And now, there will be more,” said the head of an influencer marketing agency.

Instagram has 309 million users in India, according to a Reuters report earlier this month. In comparison, most Indian platforms currently have fewer than 200 million users, industry experts say.

“If you look at the whole world, Instagram is struggling with TikTok to monetize their projects. But, there is no big competition in India. In most of the smaller platforms, there are many stories. It’s not good for brands or creators looking to monetize their work. This makes Instagram a clear way to monetize in a market like India,” said Shudeep Majumdar. , founder and CEO of influencer marketing firm, Zefmo.

Mazumdar’s assessment is supported by independent producers, investors and others in the industry. Comedian Shubham Gaur said that he was offered a contract by MX TakaTak (now owned by Sharechat) about a year ago, but he ended the relationship.

“Although they greatly increased my visibility on the platform, there was no cross-promotion on the platform, and the identity being built on it was limited to stronger,” Gaur said. remains on MX TakaTak, he would not comment, he did not reveal the value of the deal but said the financial incentive offered was “very small”.

GD Prasad, co-founder of household food products VS Mani and Co., and former vice president at Dentsu Webchutney, said, “Currently, Reels are mostly a good way to establish your brand space and your identity, even if we. managing advertising on and increasing profits.”

To be sure, Instagram’s pivot to video isn’t always a threat to Indian platforms. Anurag Ramdasan, head of investments at venture capital firm 3one4Capital, said Mohalla Tech (parent company of Sharechat, Moj and MX Taka Tak) and VerSe Innovations (Josh) will have ways to monetize their platforms and taking the Reels for the next two years.

The question is, how will the current financial winter affect these businesses. A former executive from an Indian short video agency said that the hot price for a short video startup can be upwards of $15-20 million per month. YouTube and Instagram can take that heat and offset some of it through existing partnerships and revenue streams.

Ramdasan said Instagram’s “deep financial support” could help him build on his 10-year monetization plan with Videos. , announced the launch of the live video earlier this month.

Meta acknowledged in his earnings call that Reels is in the early stages of making money. But Zuckerberg said the platform’s views have increased by 30%, and that it has already reached $1 billion in annual revenue from Reels ads worldwide. Instagram Reels was launched across August 2020, and India was one of the first countries to get the platform in July of that year.

Meta’s India head Ajit Mohan said in July that Indians were uploading 6 million short videos to Instagram every day during that time. Not only that, Zuckerberg said that Reels had a “higher monetization rate” than Instagram Stories in “similar periods after launch”. With Stories being one of the platform’s most successful products to date, it’s a sure sign that Meta will be putting more resources into Videos.

A Meta spokesperson said in response to Mint’s query that India is “one of the key markets” for Reels, and that brands like Maybelline and L’Oreal have “used Reels ads to increase brand recall. among young users.”

Abhinav Jain, executive vice president of Roposo, vice president of InMobi, said the platform is using live trading to monetize its platform. The company started with short videos, but moved into e-commerce video marketing.

Jain said that Roposo has more than 500 developers with funding and “over 350 brands” working with developers on the platform.

Moj declined to comment, while Josh did not respond to emailed questions as of press time.

YouTube announced a $100 million “short-term fund” in April for creators. Phillipp Schindler, Google’s vice president and chief business officer, said the funding was a “first step” in monetizing Shorts.

“We’re testing ads on Shorts with products like app integration and video engagement programs and incentives,” he added.