Google’s announcements on updates to YouTube in the recent past have ranged from its ‘offline’ feature aimed at helping users save on their data plan to changed policies for its creator community. The video sharing brand continues to move up from traditional content like movie trailers, movies, music videos and TV shows.
In India, this shift began in 2014 when creators in the comedy genre began to emerge on the platform. Now, web series seems to be the vehicle that is bringing a community of creators together and adding to YouTube India’s revenues.
Satya Raghavan, Head, Content Operations, YouTube India says, “2016 is literally the year of the web series, and so we created an umbrella of content under the Laughter Games initiative this year.” He adds that some of the first content creators in the genre like All India Bakchod (AIB) and The Viral Fever (TVF) have inspired other creators to add to the range of content now available on YouTube.
Sources at YouTube India say music videos, TV shows, and movie trailers continue to have a sticky set of audiences engaged in “massive watch time”. Video consumption patterns, however, have changed in India thanks to viewers constantly desiring “fresh and new content”. Genres like beauty and fashion, comedy and entertainment, food, technology, independent music and regional language content -- especially South Indian language content – are growing fast in terms of ‘watch time’. But comedy currently rules.
“Any of our comedy creators typically get about 100,000 to 500,000 views when they release content on YouTube. The number of subscribers are also an important metric for us,” said YouTube India’s Raghavan.
Advertisers too are attracted to the comedy vertical. Comedy Hunt, the search for the next set of YouTube comedy stars from across India, involving the mentoring of these talents too by more established comedy stars on the platform has attracted as many as 5 sponsors. Meanwhile, Laughter Games is currently sponsored by Kitkat and Mirinda. However, although advertiser interest helps revenues, YouTube India hopes to grow the ecosystem around the platform by encouraging thousands of creators to add to the breadth of content on it.
YouTube currently has more than a billion users, which amounts to nearly a third of internet users worldwide. While “millions of hours” of content are viewed on YouTube, the landscape for video platforms and consumptions has been altered heavily.
After some viewers began to shift to platforms like Vimeo for an uncluttered experience and social networks added video sharing, the reality is that competing forces aren’t YouTube’s only challenge – functionalities and objectives of video platforms look set to become varied with time.
Taking on never before forms like ‘video shopping’ and ‘live video’, upstart enterprises are already forcing video sharing platforms to review their offerings. Against that background, YouTube India choosing to grow and leverage an ecosystem around itself seems a necessary response.
Content partnersSo, in the case of Laughter Games, YouTube banks not just on subscribers and advertisers but also its content partners like Only Much Louder (OML) and Culture Machine. These content partners have brought comedians such as SNG Comedy, East India Comedy, Anuvab Pal, Enna Da Rascalas, Random Chikibum, Kenneth Sebastian, Them Boxer Shorts, Arre and Put Chutney on YouTube through nine distinct web series.
On joining forces with YouTube India, Siddharth Narula, President, Culture Machine shares, “We decided to create a bunch of IP's together, the thought (behind this) being to create quality content, empower YouTubers and bring brands on board to associate with long form content.”
Focus on contentAjay Nair, COO, Only Much Louder, said, “We knew there was a demand for scheduled, weekly programming on YouTube. We work with multiple comedy creators. Each of them had interesting shows in the pipeline and it made sense to programme them together as part of Laughter Games.”
Worldwide, YouTube has intensified its focus on content. In India, genres such as food, sports, music and drama wait to be tapped better in the web series format.