Spot new trends across genres - entertainment, fashion and music on the go: Journey of Trendspotters.tv

After cementing his first venture Kunal Kishore Sinha again bitten by startup bug in early this year. Kunal started Value360 - a communication firm a decade back and presently its sailing smoothly with offices across five cities in India. “My role in last venture shifted from being an active entrepreneur to a mentor. I was actively looking out for a new challenge and was discussing several business ideas before finalizing on Trendspotters.tv,” says Kunal. Trendspotters is a platform through which creates video content for a generation, who are actively consuming video over Internet on the go.

How it started?

Kunal chanced upon a site while he was researching for one of a business pitch for his communication business. He was fairly impressed with the offering of the website - video content over Internet. Inspired by the idea Kunal and team did localization especially on the content front. “My motivation as an entrepreneur has always been to create value out of nothing. We are taking an uncharted path and I have always enjoyed the journey more than the destination,” says Kunal.

Team behind Trendspotters

Kunal along with his other co-founders - Gaurav Patra and Manisha Chaudhary started with the idea to create a digital video channel in the January this year. This is the second venture of the trio, earlier they have co-founded PR firm Value360. “Though it was my idea to start Trendspotters.tv but my two co-founders – Gaurav Patra and Manisha Chaudhary where instrumental in putting this venture into execution,” adds Kunal. Luckily Kunal never faced the challenge while convincing his co-founders for the idea. When he shared it with the duo, they believed in it more than him, reveals Kunal.

Team is backbone for any startup

Team is a backbone for any startup and every members need to resonate the same passion for the venture. “This year saw a huge retrenchment in the media field and we were able create an opportunity out of this crisis by picking some good talents from the television, radio and print media,” adds Kunal. Started in June this year Trendspotter also released its Android app within a month time.

USPs and revenue model

Trendspotter creates content around spotting trends in different genres including entertainment, fashion and music. The platform has many YouTube channels, which usually stream content, which is originally meant for the television audience. Importantly, it creates content, which is not available on mainstream media. “We are focusing on creating some unique content as well as content, which has mass appeal,” reveals Kunal.

For any online content business, it is very important to first create a good traction for the platform before pondering about monetization. Currently, Trendspotter is working on marketing its platform and create mass awareness sans strong focus at monetizing immediately. In future the company would be eyeing to monetize it via content syndication with international channel targeted for branded and sponsored content including on ground events and digital advertising.

So far traction

Trendspotter has been drawing significant traction across genres and geographies. “Interestingly we are getting views from 26 countries with top contribution coming in from India, United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Canada,” reveals Kunal. So far Trendspotter got more than 1,75,000 views for its channel, out of which 62% of platform’s traffic is coming from mobile. Beyond computer, mobile and tablets, it draws attention from television and gaming consoles. Within a short span of time the company amassed close to 45,000 follower across social media networks - Facebook, Twitter & YouTube.

Road ahead

“With a new business you learn every single day. We are learning everyday and creating our strategy accordingly. We are currently working on a new user interface, which will make the site more interactive for the audience,” adds Kunal. The company would invest heavily on marketing and release mobile apps for OS such as iOS and others. Currently Trendspotter has also been working on another digital video destination, which is based on concept of DIY (Do it Yourself).

As far as raising fund is concerned,Trendspotter would look to raise investment by mid of 2014 to scale - content, partnerships and reach of the platform. “We intend to become a network of online video channels, which can provide an alternative platform to the advertiser to engage with their audience,” signs off Kunal.