Chingari, Roposo, Bolo Indya — homegrown social media apps that are helping users monetise online content

Amidst the coronavirus-led lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to become more aatmanirbhar. He urged Indians to be ‘vocal for local,’ following which many homegrown apps rose to prominence.

In fact, the Indian government’s ban on a slew of Chinese apps, including Bytedance-owned TikTok, further opened up the market for many Indian social media platforms.

Within 24 hours of TikTok’s ban, Chingari recorded 26 million video views, with three million videos swiped per hour and 10,000 users per minute. Apps like InMobi-owned Roposo and Mitron TV also gained prominence.

Further, during the lockdown, social apps witnessed a surge in consumption across demographics and devices for stay-at-home entertainment options. In fact, to increase user engagement, some of these apps are helping users monetise their content. YourStory lists five such startups.

Roposo

Founded in 2014 by Mayank Bhangadia, Avinash Saxena, and Kaushal Shubhank, Roposo is a video-sharing social networking platform.

Its powerful video creation and editing tools allow users to share their life, showcase their hidden talents, and voice their opinion on relevant issues in their native language.

With more than 24 channels across a variety of categories such as comedy, entertainment, films, devotion, music, etc., it lets users create and consume content as per their interest. It is available in English and 10 Indian languages.

With over 90 million downloads on Google Play Store, the app rewards creators on the platform transparently with Roposo coins, based on the views and quality of the videos that have been created. For example, if a video has one lakh views, the creator will get a proportionate number of coins which can be redeemed for cash via mobile wallet.

Moreover, creators have an opportunity to be paid through brand integration campaigns.

In fact, the best performing content on Roposo also gets a chance to feature on InMobi’s Glance – a lock screen platform — another way for content creators to increase their reach.

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Chingari

An Indian alternative to the Chinese app TikTok, Chingari pays its users based on the virality of the video. For each video a user shares on the app, the content creator gets points per view, and these points can be redeemed for money.

Chingari is available in languages, including English, Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.

Founded in 2019 by Bengaluru-based programmers Biswatma Nayak and Siddharth Gautam, the app allows users to download and upload videos, chat with friends, interact with new people, and browse through the feed.

It is not limited to video-sharing but allows users to read local and international news, check the weather forecast of your city, play games, participate in quizzes, and win prizes.

Sumit Ghosh, Co-founder of Chingari, said, ”We are testing initial monetisation. We are also talking with brands to do hashtags challenges and get users to engage with the brands. TikTok started the format and brands have the budget for it. With TikTok gone, they are looking for alternatives.”

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Bolo Indya

Founded by Varun Saxena, Bolo Indya is a UGC short videos app, enabling users to create two-minute videos, sharing their knowledge, experience, and opinions across interest areas, and taking the videos to the local language audience who share similar interests. 

Speaking about the platform, Varun said, "Bolo Indya has the vision to empower content creators to transform social capital into financial independence. Thus, this lays the foundation of the primary mode of creators earning.”

The startup allows creators to deliver one-to-one or one-to-many paid live video sessions from their expertise area. It claims that creators are earning up to Rs 50,000-60,000 per month.

Additionally, top creators work closely with the Bolo Indya team on a revenue-sharing basis for brand partnerships and content marketing. Creators who are empanelled for this earn up to Rs 25,000-35,000 per month with these partnerships.

In fact, top creators earn anywhere in the range of Rs 10,000-60,000 per month based on the engagement they generate through their videos.

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Aii.Social

Established in August 2018 as Aiisma Inc, the startup was co-founded by Indian entrepreneur Ankit Chaudhari and Swiss entrepreneur Nicholas Boehnlein with “My Data, My Asset” as its defining principle.

Recently, it launched a futuristic social network application Aii.Social, that offers users to convert data, social engagement, and brand interactions into rewards and payments while keeping privacy at the user’s discretion. It is available both on Google Play Store, as well as Apple App Store.

Further, it is also the first KYC enabled platform in the social space, which addresses the issue of social bullying and trolling. The first platform to charge only for real businesses to consumer interactions, Aii.Social already has over 50 brands working with it.

By 2021, the platform aims to reach over five million users and plans to expand geographically to the Middle East with social commerce and games made available on the app.

Ankit Chaudhari, CEO and Founder, Aiisma, said, “As technology progresses and the internet of things becomes an integral part of our day to day life, there is an urgent need for consumers to take control of their data that is shared with businesses. Their data is often utilised by several businesses for advertisements, content creation, product research, planning, and more, but no part of the resulting wealth created ever comes back as a benefit to the user. Data and social engagement is a large part of this wealth creation, and Aii.Social will provide these opportunities to the end-user. Aii.Social will also create a nationwide educational campaign around ‘My Data My Asset,’ educating users about data as an asset and presenting them with an opportunity to monetise the same.”

Fun2

Started in May 2020, Fun2 is an Indian social media startup that aims to celebrate the diversity of Indian culture, focussing on content-first and creator-driven business philosophy. 

It aspires to provide content creators with a concrete and a respectable platform to further explore their art or craft, start new trends, and build a community of followers. 

Rahul Bhattacharya, Co-founder and Director (Strategy), Fun2, said, “The popularity of video content platforms is being exacerbated in the post-COVID era, and that is bearing out in factors such as the prolific rise in content consumption and the daily average time spent by users. This can be the revolution that digital marketers have been waiting for which will transform India into a mobile-first ad economy. Amongst the leading game-changers and new entrants is Fun2, a content-first and creator or influencer led ecosystem.”

Beyond providing them with an opportunity to express themselves freely, Fun2 aspires to help creators monetise their craft and help them benefit from their talent.