Short-video space would be about monetisation for creators in next 2 years: Experts

Trell launched social commerce on the platform eight months ago. [ Representative image]

The short-video space, popularised by TikTok, is fast gaining traction in India with more users than ever joining these platforms. But, the next couple of years will be key as India’s short-video platforms will have more focus on monetisation, with social and live commerce taking off in a big way and ad revenues scale up, say the industry players.

In the recent Moneycontrol’s Twitter Spaces episode on ‘A year after TikTok ban: Opportunities and Challenges for short-video platforms’, Swathi Moorthy and Maryam Farooqui spoke to Pulkit Agarwal - Founder and CEO, Trell, Mansi Jain - GM and Vice President, Roposo, and Commerce, Glance, Tarini Shah – Creator and Suneil Chawla - co-founder - Social Beat, about how the space is shaping up, monetisation challenges and where it is heading.

More than a year after the ban on TikTok on June 29, 2020, the short-video space in India has grown by 20 percent with a user base of 240 million, according to a report released by RedSeer on Wednesday. The number is expected to increase to 650 million by 2025 which will make the space second to television in terms of reach.

But one of the key challenges have been monetization as brand collaborations came down for creators and raking is followers was also a challenge, which Moneycontrol had highlighted earlier. With social commerce picking up and the ad-revenue market increasing, monetization too will pick up, said the experts.

Trell launched social commerce on the platform eight months ago.

"In the next 10 months, we'll be the largest player in the beauty segment of social commerce,” he claimed.

The company also wants to diversify in other categories. Roposo too ventured into social commerce recently and is investing to grow in this space.

"We are seeing new business models come into picture. Influencer commerce is something which has taken off in a big way in the last one year which has resulted in more opportunities for creators to monetize their content. Similarly, a lot of the brands have started realizing that it is not just about endorsement by the celebrities. It is a lot about authenticity that the creators are bringing to the table," said Jain of Roposo.

When it comes to brand collaborations, digital content creator Tarini Shah noted that there has been a considerable change in brand collaborations in the last one year. This is resulting in significant growth in earnings for creators too. However, Chawla of Social Beat said that brands are finding it challenging to see conversion from the audiences.

"The conversions from the influencers are still not happening on some of the top platforms,” he added.

According to Trell’s Agarwal, the brand conversions are picking up in Indian platforms, which have created a different ecosystem that are not just focused on ads. As social and live commerce picks up, this will result in strong conversions for brands, Jain added.