[App Fridays] Be the star of your own TV show with video-entertainment platform Roposo

How many times have you imagined your life to be a movie? Or a sitcom? All of us have dreamt of starring in our very own show. And Roposo lets users do exactly that. With cheaper internet, users are increasingly leveraging video content apps for entertainment. Not just to see, but also to create their own and share them on content platforms and even social media.

There are many video platforms for browsing, creating, and sharing, but we take a chance to review homegrown video-entertainment app Roposo, which has the tagline ‘TV By The People’.

Available on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store, it is among the top 10 social apps on Google Play Store (India). Roposo recorded more than 10 million installs on the Play Store with a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. On its website, it claims to have more than 25 million downloads.

The company was started by three IIT Delhi graduates, Mayank Bhangadia, Avinash Saxena and Kaushal Shubhan in 2014 as a fashion discovery platform. However, it pivoted to a TV-like interface in 2017 allowing users to watch pictures and videos, and create their own content for others to consume.

Here’s our hands-on experience on the app

You can choose different languages to use the app and to filter the content. For instance, we wanted to use the app in English but wanted to see Hindi videos. Roposo is tapping the local vernacular focus with languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi and Bengali. In fact, you cannot choose ‘English’ as your default content language.

You can sign up using a mobile number, followed by OTP for verification. Create your profile. The app asks for permissions to access your contacts, location and files.

Similar to TikTok, Roposo also has a seamless TV-like browsing experience with over 25 interest-based channels, including music, films, news and spirituality, among others. The app has hyper-localised the digital space for vernacular users with video creation tools.

Video creation

The app lets users create video content with the help of filters, stickers, effects, and background audio, and shoot videos in modes like slow-mo, time-lapse, portraits with natural light, studio light, contour light, stage and stage mono light, etc. It also has topical filters like the ones of IPL now.

The content takes up the entire screen, with no framing, meaning you can upload your content without compromising the edges.

You can create and save videos, and pictures in your phone, or share them on the platform as content creators just like on Like, Vigo, TikTok, etc. The app can also be used to simply edit videos and photos.

Your profile on the app includes metrics like followers, posts, activities, and viewers on each of your posts, etc.

Video browsing

Apart from targeting content generators, Roposo allows you to follow channels and users. Instead of just categories, the app has channels like Haha TV featuring funny videos, or Bhakti channel for sharing and discovering devotional content. Other channels include Look Good-Feel Good for health and lifestyle, Beats for music and dance videos, and channels like the Celebration Channel, Hungry TV, Punjabi Way, Discover People, Filmistaan, Creative Space, etc.

While browsing the app, you can comment and react on a post, or follow a particular account. Entire clusters of related accounts are displayed in a channel, so it’s very easy to find and follow similar types of accounts in a few swipe ups.

The app uses swipes pretty well. To browse channels, you have to swipe right or left. And, similar to TikTok, swipe up to switch to different videos in a particular channel.

Surprisingly, Roposo allows users to download the video unlike other players in the market, and even allows  to use the audio clip of a video for their own video.

You can share content on WhatsApp and use them for your status.

Also read: [App Fridays] Spotify charms India in a week, moves towards retaining users

Monetisation and ecommerce

There’s more to the video editing and sharing app. Using Roposo, you can become a seller or reseller. The app has a channel called Bazaar, where users can sell products similar to Olx, Quickr, or Facebook marketplace.

However, when we tried to sell a product, the app routed us to another link to download the seller’s app. You will need to buy a seller’s plan starting from Rs 2,250 to start selling on the platform. However, you do not need anything extra while buying something - just chat with the seller on the Roposo app.

Besides ecommerce opportunities, the app also allows users to monetise their presence on the app. Earn points for multiple activities on the app and make money - 10,000 coins is equal to Rs 10. You can earn points by inviting friends on the app.

Once you have enough points to have actual money, you can transfer it to your Paytm Wallet. Since we did not earn enough points, we cannot tell you how this feature works exactly.

The verdict

The app has impressive editing features and can be used to edit pictures and video even if you are not interested in using the content creating and sharing part of it. Since most features are free, the app has advertisements after every third swipe.

All in all, it can be a fun app for people who are looking forward to new, short and user-generated content. But, the ads can get slightly annoying. Until then, swipe up, down, right and left for ‘TV by the People’.

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