For Flipkart Video, is its non-fiction content strategy working?

The new content resulted in strong traction on the platform last year.

"We saw a 7x year-on-year growth in time spent on the video platform in the past few months and 5x YoY growth in daily viewers," Prakash Sikaria Vice President - Growth and Monetisation at Flipkart, told Moneycontrol.

In addition, Sikaria said that around 60 percent users are repeat viewers and he attributes this to the daily format of the programming on the platform.

Getting entertained while shopping

Last year, content on Flipkart Video also attracted many shoppers especially during shopping festivals like Flipkart's Big Billion Days.

Sharing an example Sikaria said, "Last year a wide range of interactive video content was available to users during the Big Billion Days for the first time. There was a 5x growth in the number of engagements for the interactive shows during this period."

He added that today Flipkart Video users can be classified into two broad categories. "First, those who are new to e-commerce and explore our commerce offerings after spending time on video and second, a set of users who are regular Flipkart shoppers and watch content on Flipkart Video. And we are seeing a healthy mix of both types of users on the platform."

Sikaria also pointed out that in 2020 many people tried shopping on e-commerce platforms and for Flipkart its video content played an important role.

"The video platform played an important role in growing Flipkart's registered customer base of 300 million, especially among people who may have been fence-sitters until now," he said.

More non-fiction shows in the pipeline

This is why Flipkart Video will continue its focus on adding more interactive shows on the platform.

The first new show the platform will be launching this year is the show titled Kaun? Who did it? on January 9.

Produced in collaboration with Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment, the show will feature actor Sushant Singh and theatre actress Samvedna Suwalka who will be essaying the role of a detective and a cop. The short -format interactive crime fiction will bring a new murder mystery everyday and will involve audience to solve the mystery and guess the killer.

While analysts believe that non-fiction shows have a strong foothold on television, it seems Flipkart Video has been able to gain traction with reality shows. However, experts note that Flipkart with its originals has not been able to create a big mark yet.