Brands lost in translation: Lack of good digital content creators a problem

Content creation is big in the digital world, but advertisers have a small pool to select from and fare which is not exclusive to platforms

What do digital content creators like Shreya Jain, Technical Guruji, Bhuvan Bham, Mallika Dua, TVF, Sandeep Maheshwari  and Pocket Aces have in common? Answer: They have millions of followers, advertisers and tech giants desperate to have them on their platforms.

As internet access spreads through cheaper data and smarter phones, digital content creators are in greater demand. But the irony is that advertisers have a small bunch of creators to choose from. Look up YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook, three of the biggest names when it comes to video content in India, and it is not surprising to find Technical Guruji, Bhuvan Bham or Mallika Dua offering the same fare. The same goes for the other popular content creators around. It is a small world and content is hardly exclusive to platforms.  In other words, it is a zero-sum game for advertisers. They barely gain, said experts. 

Shreya Jain

While digital companies are doing the best to get creators to provide differentiated content, this is not easy, experts said. Content creation, they say, have limitations and pushing them beyond a point is unreasonable. The net result for the platform is the lack of stickiness, something they dislike. 

A day out  in the sun

Sandeep Maheshwari

At Facebook’s flagship ‘Creator’s Day’ event in Mumbai last month, the social media giant talked about their top video stars and how it was introducing a number of content monetisation tools for this group.

“The biggest trend that the Indian digital industry has witnessed in consumer behaviour is rapid growth in adoption of video over the last few years. We’re seeing consumer videos exploding on our platform and today, video has become one of the biggest drivers of engagement growth on Facebook. Besides community content, where people share their experiences, we are a platform where professional content creators come to find an audience and also earn money,” said Paresh Rajwat, Facebook's head of products for video.

Bhuvam Bam

The Menlo-Park-headquartered company has also introduced ad breaks in five languages, namely, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali for eligible partners. Ad breaks are applicable to those videos that have attracted over 30,000 one-minute views for two months and have over 10,000 followers. Creators will be eligible to 55 per cent ad revenue share, company officials said. 

The chief incentive for creators on Facebook is to graduate to Facebook Watch (their recently launched long-form video segment), which will give them more viewership and advertisers alike. But the question is: Are content creators game for it? And are they ready to offer more to one platform versus the other. 

There are no clear answers yet. But Facebook, said experts, hasn’t given up too. It has simplified how creators can keep track of their online presence, viewership and fan engagement through different tools on the platform. This gives them the impetus to stick on with Facebook and do their best to keep engaging their audience with differentiated content. Brands obviously gain from this exercise, experts said.

Rivals follow suit

In November, Snap, makers of Snapchat, the popular social camera app, announced the launch of a localised tool called Discover. This is a content discovery segment of the app. The launch was meant for the growing community of Indian snapchatters as well as aimed at monetising their local user base through advertising partnerships with brands.

Unlike Facebook or Youtube, Snapchat continues to differentiate itself with “curated” content so not everyone can become a star overnight. Experts say it is Snapchat's in-house team that decides whether content creators have made the cut based on various parameters including the kind of content created and their follower base. Also, Snapchat has only Hindi content and ads apart from English for their Indian user base. 

Shrenik Gandhi, co-founder and chief executive officer, White Rivers Media, a Mumbai-based digital media company, says that since digital content creation is fairly new to Indians, the ecosystem will develop over time. “Eventually we might see platforms incentivising these creators to share exclusive content with them. The digital platforms themselves will have to invest in increasing viewer stickiness with new and interesting features and tools,” he says.

Digital platforms have made a start. Some of the initiatives introduced include Youtube’s premium programming service with  shows such as ‘ARRived’, featuring music composer AR Rahman, aimed at driving up traffic. Snapchat has original content globally and is in talks with Indian creators for the same. Facebook may follow with an exclusive service in the future. But the current strategy is to make content creators comfortable with a host of tools to help them adopt Facebook as their platform of choice.