Virat Kohli expands social media reach, joins short video sharing platform MX Taka Tak

Indian skipper Virat Kohli will not only create fun and exclusive TakaTak Videos but also participate in Hashtag Challenges and Livestreams.

Now, even top celebrities are paying attention to short video sharing platforms.

Expanding his social media reach, captain of the Indian cricket team Virat Kohli has joined short video platform MX TakaTak.

"The Indian skipper will not only create fun and exclusive TakaTak Videos but also participate in Hashtag Challenges and Livestreams, offering his fans a chance to get a closer look at him off the field as well," the platform said in a statement.

So far, not many A-list celebrities have entered the short video space. Rising stars like Ananya Panday is on Moj.

Before the TikTok ban, there were celebrities like Deepika Padukone and Varun Dhawan on the platform.

“Short video platforms have until now been at the early part of the adoption curve, primarily led by the rapidly growing online influencer community to showcase their talent and build their fan base. However, with legendary cricketer Virat Kohli, who is India's biggest celebrity as well as one of the world's top stars, creating an account on MX TakaTak, we are now in the cultural mainstream,” said Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player and MX TakaTak.

Kohli joining MX TakaTak comes at a time when the platform became the official short video partner of as many as seven Indian Premier League (IPL) teams.

Along with Kohli, the platform has celebrities like singer Neha Kakkar, Rohanpreet Singh, Tony Kakkar and Sonu Kakkar.

Currently, the platform sees over two billion video views daily and has more than 21 million content creators. Launched last year, it so far has 150 million monthly active users.

Along with MX TakaTak, many other platforms in the short video space are seeing strong traction in India.

According to a RedSeer Consulting report, the Indian market for short video content has grown from 20 million users in FY16 to 180 million users in FY20. And it is expected that short-form video market is estimated to grow 4X in terms of total time spent. Currently, time spent on such platforms is  110 billion minutes/month which will increase to 400-450 billion minutes/month in the next five years.