Short video apps launch smart features to make money, shed TikTok clone tag

According to a RedSeer report, 40% of TikTok's 170 million India user base has already been captured by homegrown apps such as Josh, Moj, and Chingari

Twenty-two year old Ishbhan Yadav is an engineering graduate based in Rajasthan. While he holds an engineering degree, his heart lies in filmmaking for which he wants to get admission into FTII, Pune. He started making short videos on social media platforms about five years ago. Today, he earns up to Rs 50,000 a month by organising interactive sessions on several topics with a fanbase of 600,000 on the vernacular platform Bolo Indya.

As the short video app leader TikTok talk was banned last year by the government along with dozens of other Chinese apps, it gave wings to several Indian versions of the app. While these were labelled as clone versions of TikTok, these apps have now started rolling out new features, helping creators monetize at different touch points as well as shed the copycat tag attached to them.

Bolo Indya is running a personalised online service on its platform via which creators can interact with customers on a one-on-one mode and get paid for those services directly from the customers.

“We have removed the barrier that creators can earn only through brand partnerships which catered to only the top few content creators. On our platform every creator who can connect with the end user has the possibility to earn ranging from a standup comedian, a teacher, an astrologer, fitness experts,” says Varun Saxena, founder and CEO of Bolo Indya, which was launched in May 2019 and is available in 14 languages. Most of the users in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, who do not get the opportunity to attend these sessions live are ready to pay for such gigs, says Saxena. The company runs on a revenue share model with the creator in which 70 per cent of the revenue goes to the creator and rest is raked in by the platform.

The startup has recently rolled out Bolo-Live, a live streaming capability on the short video platform. The Bolo-Live streaming feature comes with an integrated real time gamification in a form of gifting option where creators can be rewarded by their follower base basis the content quality, density as well as the engagement which can be redeemed in cash on the Bolo Indya platform. Users can send their favorite live performing creators a wider variety of digital gifts right from a rose for Rs 10 to a premium gift for Rs 1,000. With real time gamification integrated in these broadcasting sessions, users can emerge as the top fans of their favorite creators in a broadcasting session and win incentives. The company claims to have crossed 100,000 transactions through Bolo Live during the three month soft launch and plans to take it to 30 million by the end of the year.

Another homegrown short video app is Chingari that rolled out a social video commerce feature on the platform with an Amazon tie up and is eyeing a revenue of $100 million annually in the next two years from the service.  

“When we gained popularity last year after the TikTok ban, we were just being called clone/copycat and no one thought we could build anything innovative, we are proud to launch this feature and become the first short video app globally to make short videos shoppable via AI/ML,” Sumit Ghosh, co-founder and CEO, Chingari.

Every object that is featured in a video can be shopped from e-commerce websites as the video becomes a live catalogue with help of AI and ML. For every product sold on the e-commerce website via the discovery that happens on the Chingari app, the startup will get 5-10 per cent of the revenue generated. Of this, the company will give 30 per cent share to the creator of the video.  

The company is also working on a feature called Chingari Skills, which will be a marketplace on which people can upload a set of videos of the products or skills they want to monetise.

According to a RedSeer report, 40 per cent of TikTok’s 170 million India user base has already been captured by homegrown apps such as Josh, Moj, and Chingari.

“In terms of monetisation, there are two to three routes that these apps will have to take including advertisements and influencer marketing. Once these apps have a strong user base and a good retention rate, then they can move on to social commerce,” said Nikhil Dalal, senior consultant, RedSeer.

Sequoia Capital backed Trell has also started social commerce offerings four months ago and has partnered with over 500 brands across makeup, personal care, health and wellness categories. Another such app Khabri which was offering all its content for free  will now be offering it  on a freemium model where some content will be free for all and premium content will be behind the paywall.