Fame As A Service: Building A Creator-First Short Video Community
Every developed economy has a strong creative sector. As India has set the target to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025, we are witnessing the country’s creative industry step into the spotlight on a global stage. Just recently, India has been named the first 'Country of Honor' at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and Market in France. With such great economic potential on the global scale, Create in India could be one of the pillars under the arch of Make in India.
The creative industry doesn’t exist without creators. When the Cannes Film Festival is rolling out the red carpet for Bollywood stars, we can’t stop asking: Where is the red carpet for India’s online creators?
As per the Bain & Company report, titled ‘Short-form video is poised to grow to 600 to 650 million users in India by 2025’, India’s online video user base has scaled to more than 350 million people, growing 24% from 2018 to 2020. Usage per active user has also grown dramatically—the daily time spent per active user on online videos has simultaneously grown by 60% to 70% from 2018 to 2020.
India’s online creators seemingly have gained their virtual red carpet, given such crazy growth of the short-form video market. However, as per a recent survey, about 41% of the Indian creators don’t think they have positive exposure in society or even any exposure at all. They feel that they are underrepresented, disenfranchised, and even misinterpreted by the public.
It’s time to roll out a red carpet for online creators in India. It’s time for the platforms to provide Fame as a Service.
Today, online creators have the advantage of pursuing what they love and monetising through their talents. But they desire more than easy money. They want their originality to be honored and to earn their own fame with their talents. Behind the feast of the Indian short video market, 50% of the content that the people are consuming online is crawler content, which harms both users’ appetite and the creator economy in the long run. Plagiarism is a big concern in the digital world and to curb it and protect the rights of creators, platforms have to do more. Only original creators have the privilege to walk the red carpet. Otherwise, the fame of the original ones will be depreciated. "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes," said Andy Warhol, one of the most talented artists in the 20th century. And that future has arrived with an even shorter time duration of 15 seconds in the cyberspace of short video. It’s not the spotlight, but the crowd that makes one famous. We’ve seen on our own platform thousands of creators are forming their own communities of peer creators and loyal fans. Namely, they’re prolonging their fame far more than the time limit of 15 seconds. They are exploring for opportunities above a simple creator-consumer relationship. They want to become stars of their communities. Fame will come from not only views, but social interactions as well.
As we take a step ahead in the world of short video community, Web 3.0 is making a significant impact on our lives. With augmented reality and virtual reality enriching our daily lives, it will soon seep into the short video community as well. It will offer a future where the creators of the short format videos can enjoy a stronger overlap between our physical and digital lives, and it will invite us to imagine a world
where we can enjoy our digital experiences and access them in a more flexible environment. That will be the dawn of an era of short video communities.
*The author is Ian Goh, CEO, Tiki
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