<ul><li><keyword id="3358959" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">Sharechat</keyword>’s short video platform <keyword id="8678883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="moj">Moj</keyword> has announced the release of the world’s first ‘<keyword id="10099500" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="short-music-album">short music album</keyword>.’</li><li>The album by popular singer <keyword id="4735933" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ritviz">Ritviz</keyword> has five 30-second clips that can be used exclusively by Moj users. </li><li>The company said it has been designed to target the millennial audience with snackable content. </li></ul>Moj – the video platform from India’s own social media network Sharechat – made an interesting announcement today. It has launched the world’s first ‘short music album.’ Wondering what it means? Just 30-second songs designed for short video platforms. The album by popular singer Ritviz has five 30-second clips that can be used exclusively by Moj users. Ritviz has had a series of big hits with songs like Udd Gaye, Liggi, Jeet and Sage, among others. The company said it has been designed to target the millennial audience with snackable content. “Notwithstanding the success of snackable video content the world is yet to explore the shorter format of music. We have decided to pioneer this experiment with Ritviz, and we hope this will now become the harbinger of a trend in the short music space," said Shashank Shekhar, Director, Content Strategy and Operations, Moj. In early July, Sharechat had launched Moj – its rival product to TikTok, right after the Chinese app was banned by the Indian government. Since then, Moj has ramped up its offerings with the hope of tapping into the millions of users left behind by the ByteDance giant TikTok. Sharechat had also recently inked a licensing deal with T-Series. With the partnership, Sharechat, and its video platform, Moj’s users can access T-Series library of songs. Sharechat currently has over 160 million monthly users, while Moj has 80 million monthly active users. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/check-the-list-of-upcoming-expected-ipo-in-2020-or-early-2021-in-india/articleshow/78634660.cms">IPOs have raked in nearly $180 billion so far in 2020 — Here’s a look at some other companies that may go public this year</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/oneplus-chinese-company-co-founder-carl-pei-exits-company-one-day-ahead-of-flagship-mobile-launch/articleshow/78634270.cms">OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei reportedly exits company one day ahead of flagship smartphone launch</a>

Ritviz’s latest album is ‘30-second songs’ made for content creators on short video platform Moj

<ul><li>With this partnership, <keyword id="3358959" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">Sharechat</keyword>, and its video platform <keyword id="8678883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="moj">Moj</keyword>’s users will be able to access T-Series’ library of thousands of songs to create videos.</li><li>In early July, Sharechat launched Moj – its TikTok rival product, right after the Chinese app was banned by the Indian government. </li><li>The Sharechat and T-Series deal comes days after <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> and <keyword id="106741" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saregama">Saregama</keyword> signed a similar partnership.</li></ul>Sharechat, the Indian homegrown social media app, has inked a licensing deal with T-Series. With the partnership, Sharechat, and its video platform Moj’s users will be able to access T-Series’ library of thousands of songs to create videos. This is the first of its kind partnership for T-Series. “We are delighted to partner with ShareChat, and this association sets a fresh beginning between us and the social media platforms. This moment celebrates the contribution of great music to social media, and we commend ShareChat for respecting the copyrights. It's great to see ShareChat agree with our philosophy,” said Bhushan Kumar, Managing Director, T-Series. In early July, Sharechat had launched Moj – its TikTok rival product, right after the Chinese app was banned by the Indian government. “Music brings out the best of emotions and nostalgia to our users as they share their creativity on our platform. Our partnership with T-Series would help our community of users to access thousands of songs from the T-series catalogue on ShareChat and Moj to express their emotions and share content in amazing new ways," said Berges Y Malu, Director, ShareChat in a statement. According to reports, Sharechat is also in talks with Google and Microsoft for a deal that could ramp up its valuation to over $1 billion, from the current $650 million. A new awakening for India’s music labels The popularity of social video sharing platforms has led to a new avenue of partnerships for India’s oldest music labels. The Sharechat and T-Series deal comes days after Facebook and Saregama signed a similar partnership. Saregama has over 100,000 songs across genres including, film songs, devotional music, ghazals &amp; indipop in more than 25 languages. And these songs can be accessed by Facebook and Instagram users. “Millions of Facebook users will be able to add music from our vast catalogue to stories and videos they create and share,” Vikram Mehra, Managing Director of Saregama India had said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ola-electric-plans-to-hire-2000-co-founder-bhavish-aggarwal-says-electric-two-wheeler-launch-soon/articleshow/77755149.cms">Ola Electric plans to hire 2000 — co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal says electric two-wheeler launch soon</a>

After Facebook-Saregama deal, Sharechat and T-Series partner up for a music licensing deal

<ul><li>The combined short video platform will have over 300M MAUs and 100M strong creator community.</li><li><keyword id="11984975" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mx-media" source="Orion">MX Media</keyword> and its shareholders will become strategic shareholders of <keyword id="3358959" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sharechat" source="Orion">ShareChat</keyword>.</li></ul>MX Media Co. Ltd, the parent company of <keyword id="9555198" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mx-takatak" source="Orion">MX TakaTak</keyword>, and ShareChat, the parent company of <keyword id="8678883" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="moj" source="Orion">Moj</keyword>, today announced a strategic merger between Moj and MX <keyword id="7638068" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="takatak" source="Orion">TakaTak</keyword>, to create the largest short video platform for Indians, whereby the two platforms will now be controlled by ShareChat. The combined platform will have 100 million creators, over 300 million Monthly Active Users (MAU), and nearly 250 billion monthly video views. Post this transaction, MX Media and its shareholders will become strategic shareholders of ShareChat. Since its launch in July 2020, Moj has emerged as the largest Indian short video app, with over 160 million MAUs and over 50 million creator communities in the 15 Indian languages. The company has been investing heavily in social and live commerce and growing its AI/ML team which is now over 100 people strong and spread across the US, Europe, and India. MX TakaTak was launched in July 2020 and reached 150 million MAUs, across 10 languages. The platform’s deep access to content talent and understanding of the MX Media ecosystem user base has seen this high growth in a short span of time. MX TakaTak will continue to function as a separate platform for now, but the two platforms’ creator base, content supply and recommendation algorithms will be integrated. In the coming months, the experience of users and creators will converge enabling creators from both platforms to reach the most extensive set of audiences in India. This will provide users access to unique features including best-in-class camera creation tools with Snap filters, live commerce, and a vast music library. Commenting on the merger, Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Cofounder, ShareChat &amp; Moj, said, “We at ShareChat are building India’s largest content ecosystem which has been on an unprecedented growth trajectory. MX TakaTak is a popular platform and this merger further solidifies our position in the short video ecosystem. With this development, we aim to build the largest original content platform on Moj along with the largest community of users across India.” Commenting on the partnership, Karan Bedi, CEO MX Media said, “I am excited to announce the strategic merger of India’s two most popular social media platforms. As India's largest digital entertainment platform, MX has always strived to build superior world class products, and TakaTak is no exception. This combined with Moj’s AI and execution capabilities makes the combined business a truly world class short video platform. MX has created two ‘unicorns’ within one business, unlocking significant value for our shareholders, and will now continue to double down on OTT, with significantly increased financial resources.”

ShareChat and MX Media announce a strategic merger of Moj and MX TakaTak

<ul><li>Indian short video apps are fighting tooth-and-nail to fill the void that TikTok has left behind since it got banned in India. </li><li>The top free apps in the Google Play Store are dominated by the likes of ShareChat's Moj, <keyword id="2368386" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Roposo">Roposo</keyword> and Trell. </li><li>Business Insider reviewed all three to weigh the pros and cons of the new short video platforms.</li></ul>Ever since TikTok was banned in India, people are rushing to local alternatives to fuel their need for short videos. In the Google Play Store, Indian apps are currently battling it out for the top spot. The only catch is they’re not exactly at the same level as TikTok when it comes to functionality and user interface. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="76696132" title="List of 59 Chinese apps banned in India by Indian government" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> The likes of ShareChat's Moj, Roposo and Trell among the top five free apps on the Google Play Store. Likee Lite also makes an appearance, even though its parent app — Likee — was among the 59 apps banned in India. <div type="image" title="googleplaystore" msid="76869510" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Top five free apps in the Google Play Store right now&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Review of ShareChat’s Moj short video app ShareChat’s Moj is currently ahead of the rest and it even has a 3.9 star rating on the Google Play Store. It made its debut on June 29 and amassed 10 million downloads within a week. Due to security measures, Moj doesn’t allow users to take screenshots. However, in our review of the app, the pixels in the top right corner seem out of order for every single video. <div type="image" title="moj" msid="76869469" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The top right corner of Moj app is stretching pixels&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> It also auto-pulled the one-time-password (OTP) without getting clearance from the user for access. Using your phone number is the only way to sign up. However, you can use the app to view content without logging in at all. Unlike TikTok, Moj also doesn’t allow for editing, music tracks or adding special effects to videos. Users report being unable to sign in or post videos from time-to-time. Many comment that there’s a dire need for more features like being able to post comments, create a user profile, save videos to your own gallery — and just make it more user friendly, overall. <div type="image" title="Moj review" msid="76869525" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Reviews of Moj since its launch&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Developers do plan to introduce new features such as video editing, filters, stickers and ‘magical’ emoticons for selfies in the near future. Review of Roposo short video app Akin to Mojo, Roposo also auto-pulls the OTP without getting clearance from the user for access. On the plus side, the user interface is clean. When uploading videos, the app allows you to edit videos within the platform and even add filters and effects, much like TikTok. It also allows users to collaborate with other user’s videos. <div type="image" title="roposo" msid="76869576" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Roposo includes TikTok-like filters and effects&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Roposo has over 50 million downloads. However, the app’s reviews on the Play Store reflect some users complaining about excessive data consumption, prolonged buffering time, and bugs while searching for other users’ profiles. <div type="image" title="Roposo reviews" msid="76869591" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Roposo reviews since India banned TikTok&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The one big hurdle with Roposo is that signing up is a must — and your phone number is the only way to do it. Review of <keyword id="9543757" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="trell-short-video-app">Trell short video app</keyword> Install the app is a breeze, but when it actually comes to opening it up for the first time — it refuses to load. Once it finally opens the interface is very user friendly and it allows you to sign up using your phone number, Facebook, Google ID or WhatsApp. As compared to the other two apps, the explore interface is much better. You can switch between tabs — like Travel, Reaction Videos, Food and others — to choose the kind of content you want to see. <div type="image" title="trell" msid="76869762" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;Trell interface is user friendly&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> When uploading a video you can choose from pre-recorded clips on your device or shoot something new. What’s lacking is the fact that you can’t edit or add special effects to any of your videos within the app. And, I’m not sure if you can truly call it a ‘short video’ app if users can upload videos that are up to 5 minutes long. <div type="image" title="Trell reviews" msid="76869777" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The ratio between negative and positive reviews for Trell is the lowest as compared to its peers&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> With a rating of 4.6 stars, Trell has the lowest number of negative reviews as compared to its peers. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/russian-scammers-are-conning-senior-executives-into-giving-away-2-7-million-by-impersonating-real-ceos-and-lawyers/articleshow/76849870.cms">Russian scammers are conning senior executives into giving away $2.7 million by impersonating real CEOs and lawyers</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/tinder-bumble-and-ok-cupid-banned-by-indian-army-to-keep-soldiers-from-being-honey-trapped/articleshow/76866610.cms">What is a honey trap ⁠— the reason why the Indian Army banned Tinder, Bumble, and OK Cupid</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/checkout-the-list-of-89-apps-banned-for-indian-army-soldiers/articleshow/76865942.cms">List of 89 apps banned for Indian Army soldiers</a>

TikTok alternatives⁠— reviews of the top three short video apps on Google Play Store

New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) Home-grown regional language social media app ShareChat's short video sharing platform Moj has crossed five million downloads from Google Play Store in just about a week since the beta version of the TikTok rival was released. The speed at which this app was being installed even at the testing phase only suggests how big a vacuum has been created following the disappearance of TikTok from app stores for Indian users after the country banned the app, along with 58 other Chinese apps. The Moj app is available in 15 Indian languages -- Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Odia, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Rajasthani, Haryanvi and Urdu. As of now, on downloading the app one just needs to select the preferred language and they are good to go. One can browse through the feed on the Moj app and share their favourite videos with friends and family. According to the description of the app on the Google Play Store, Moj aims to bring a global community of creators to one platform so that users can meet "tens of millions of celebrities and talented artists" from around the world on the app and also get to make friends with young people from their city or neighbourhood. Among upcoming features listed by the "Made in India" app includes a number of special effects, thousands of stickers, and magical emoticons for your selfies. It will also have "Magic filters" so that users can create music videos with special effects at full sync with the music's beat, according to the app. The beta version of the app is currently available only on Google Play Store, but it may soon be available for iOS devices as well, according to industry sources. --IANS gb/na

ShareChat's TikTok rival Moj crosses 5mn downloads on Google Play

<ul><li><keyword id="106741" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saregama">Saregama</keyword> recently announced its result. Its PAT for Q4 stood at Rs 372 million, which was a 151% growth compared to the same quarter last year.</li><li>Over the years, the company has transitioned from being a music label to today creating IPs in the form of music, films and TV series, along with manufacturing and innovating on its portable music player, <keyword id="4504073" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="carvaan">Carvaan</keyword>.</li><li><keyword id="160511" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vikram-Mehra">Vikram Mehra</keyword>, Managing Director, Saregama India tells us how the company has managed to stay relevant even after being in existence for close to 120 years, and all that it is doing to make sure it stays relevant for the next few decades too.</li></ul>Four years ago, Saregama realized a need gap in the 40+ age group when it came to consuming music. People who wanted to listen to retro music were not able to access them easily. Many missed the good old days of Radio. That was the insight that gave birth to Carvaan, Saregama’s popular portable retro music player. Since then, Saregama has kept innovating on not just Carvaan but also on its other offerings. The company which started as a music label company in 1902 has today gone much beyond that. Today, its portfolio includes intellectual property rights of over 4000 hours of TV content produced for channels in languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. Over the last few decades, the company has forayed into retailing music through physical and digital mediums. The company now also has a film production unit, Yoodlee Films and it is this diversification of its offering that has helped it not just weather the storm of 2020, but also be ready for the future. In its recently released results, the company said that its Profit after Tax (PAT) for Q4 stood at Rs 372 million, which was a 151% growth compared to the same quarter last year. Its <keyword id="1159047" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Music-Licensing">music licensing</keyword> revenue in FY21 went up by 20%. While it has been a difficult year for many businesses, Saregama’s efforts at expanding its portfolio over the last few years is now paying off. “The biggest transition that has happened for Saregama is that from an old-world company that used to be the custodian of music, we are today a new-age company, which is riding on the digital wave, in India and globally. Proliferation of smartphones and cheap data has led to a huge increase in the consumption of content and digital is pushing this explosion. And as Saregama, we are now sitting at the heart of all the action, be it with our music, our films or TV series,” said Vikram Mehra, MD, Saregama India. Right now, the company is primarily focusing on two things, the creation of IPs, be it as music, films or TV series, and monetizing them. The second is to create a platform on the back of Carvaan to talk to the 35+ age group. While the original Carvaan was aimed at an older age group, the company is now innovating to make it attractive to a younger audience too. Last year, it had launched a Karaoke variant to appeal to the 35+ age group. Its Carvaan 2.0 version, which comes with thousands of pre-loaded songs, also supports podcasts now. On how it has been able to stay relevant, despite being an almost 120-year-old company, Mehra said, “How you think as a company makes a lot of difference. In recent times, the average age of the company has gone down steeply. We are getting younger people on board who understand the new world better and asking them to guide us.” The company is also working on the acquisition of new content aggressively. It recently announced that it has acquired the music of a series of big-ticket movies which include <keyword id="6358308" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Leela-Bhansali">Sanjay Leela Bhansali</keyword>’s upcoming movie, Gangubai Kathiawadi along with his next movie, Akshay Kumar starrer Bell Bottom and Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan. Saregama has also acquired the rights of the yet unnamed official adaptation of the cult blockbuster, Anniyan, which will be directed by Shankar and will feature actor Ranveer Singh. Last year, Saregama also struck licensing deals with Facebook, Spotify and Triller. Its music is now also available on various short video platforms like Moj and Josh where people can use them to create their content. Saregama is also heavily investing on regional music. “Saregama is one of the oldest music labels in the country and we have relationships in every music and film market in the country. Because of our legacy, we are harnessing those relationships and entering into Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi music. Our aim is to create enough content so that the kids of today who are going to consume content will keep on listening to this content for another 50 years,” he explained. Last year, the lockdown also meant people were stuck at home. So while the sale of Carvaan, which is a product people want to experience before buying, saw a hit, its kids variant Carvaan Mini Kids saw impressive growth. “This is a product we have never marketed and yet it is the fastest selling Mini for us,” he added. Overall, Carvaan sold 1,10,000 units in Q4 FY21, despite retail sale having been massively impacted by the pandemic. With the addition of a podcast feature on Carvaan 2.0, Mehra is confident of the monetization opportunities it opens up for them. “For us, till now, Carvaan was a one-time margin product, similar to say a refrigerator that you sell once and make money out of it and that’s it. Now with podcasts coming in, it creates a huge opportunity for us as a platform to start generating advertising or subscription revenue,” he explained. Mehra is also not stuck on getting Carvaan-only exclusive podcasts. “Our model is a little different. As a company, we are telling podcasters to bring their podcasts to us on a non-exclusive basis. And if ever we make revenue off of it, we plan to share 40% of it with the content partner,” he added. If things go as planned, Saregama plans to start monetizing its podcasts in the next 2-3 years.

The almost 120-year-old Saregama is ready for the future; here is how it is transitioning to stay relevant for the next few decades

Leading homegrown social media platform <keyword id="3358959" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">ShareChat</keyword> on Thursday announced it has closed a new funding round of $40 million that drew investment from Hero MotoCorp CEO Dr Pawan Munjal, DCM Shriram Chairman Ajay S Shriram and micro-blogging platform <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword>, among others. The new funds will be utilised towards driving growth for Moj, the newly-launched short video platform from Sharechat, the company said in a statement. "Our short-video platform Moj has been on an explosive growth trajectory since its launch. This funding will help us further invest into our product development, machine learning (ML) capabilities and helping the creator community," said Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Co-founder, ShareChat. Other investors in the Pre-Series E funding round are <keyword id="161314" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAIF-Partners">SAIF Partners</keyword>, Lightspeed Ventures and India Quotient. Currently, ShareChat and Moj together have a huge base of over 240 million monthly active users (MAUs). ShareChat said it has exceeded over 160 million MAUs in the past month with the average daily time spent by users on the platform at 31 minutes. Available in 15 languages on both iOS and Android platforms, Moj has garnered over 80 million MAUs with users spending on an average about 34 minutes on the platform. The company said large parts of the fund have been earmarked for doubling down on investments made towards product development, growing its creator ecosystem and establishing partnerships with music labels. Munjal has invested in ShareChat in his personal capacity, through his family trust. "The economic and demographic ecosystem of the internet universe is primed for companies like ShareChat and their products. I have immense faith in the young entrepreneurs of our country. ShareChat is an excellent example of a self-reliant company that is aiming to take India to the world," Munjal said. Shriram has also invested in the homegrown app through DCM Shriram Promoters Family Office. "ShareChat's growth story has not been limited to its own success, but also motivated many young Indian entrepreneurs to dream big in the internet ecosystem," he said. Twitter previously led ShareChat's Series D funding round with additional backing by SAIF Partners, Lightspeed Ventures and India Quotient, the three of which have been involved with ShareChat as investors since its early days.

Sharechat raises $40 million from Twitter, Pawan Munjal, SAIF Partners and others

<ul><li>With the explosion of talent across social media and OTT, the marketing landscape of 2021 looks very different.</li><li> <keyword id="11362330" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Julie-Kriegshaber">Julie Kriegshaber</keyword>, COO <keyword id="6855610" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chtrbox">Chtrbox</keyword> shares how a brand can choose between celebrities, influencers, and <keyword id="11644166" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ott-stars">OTT Stars</keyword> as endorsers.</li></ul>The context: For years, it’s been pretty straightforward for brands. India’s attention was ruled by her celebrities and all you had to do was look within movies (Bollywood) and sports (cricket) to find your endorsers. With digital making waves over the past many years, the Jio effect and subsequently mobile phones becoming the primary screen, COVID lockdowns, and the explosion of talent building their audiences across social media and OTT, the marketing landscape of 2021 looks very different. While traditional celebrities still rule the roost when it comes to non-digital formats, deciding on endorsers isn’t as straightforward anymore. Let’s take a deeper look. Social Media Influencers: Cutting across age brackets now, they’re the new age media for digitally savvy users. Content creators and experts, they have built their fan following across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and off-late homegrown regional platforms like Josh (Dailyhunt), Moj (ShareChat), and more. Why Influencers are a great choice: 1. Category Experts: Most quality influencers, be it mega, macro and micro, have built their audiences based on genuine expertise and quality of content in a category. This category relevance to your brand is really important to consider especially if your audience has an interest in categories like Beauty, Tech, Dance, Music, Fashion, Food, Fitness, Parenting, etc. 2. Engagement Engineers: Digital influencers know what works to drive conversations on digital, and are adaptable &amp; versatile. The best creators also have a knack for data, and take the real time feedback they get to continuously iterate better content. It also helps in brand storytelling that they’re closest to your consumer profile. 3. Great ROI: Most influencers are economical considering their quality of content and results. Most are comfortable in shooting from home, editing themselves and don’t necessarily require large production shoots requiring large budgets. Why to skip Influencers: 1. Your audience doesn’t follow influencers: Your brand’s primary TG is not digitally savvy, or still not on the internet. 2. You’re approaching it the wrong way: It’s not a priority for your brand, and you’re only looking at a standard list of influencers as an afterthought to amplify content. Much like most things in advertising, influencer marketing too is an art and science and requires intelligent influencer selection and creative content curation. OTT Stars: Nothing ‘over the top’ about the hype and popularity some of these emerging stars are getting. They’re breaking through digital screens of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar + another 30 OTT platforms now in India and finding parallel fame on social media. Why OTT Stars are a great choice: 1. Great actors and eager to work: Many of these actors are early in their careers, and could be the right fit for diverse and out of the box content formats. They handle the camera with ease, and can tell a story well. 2. Targeting a broad audience: Unlike many social media influencers who have specific audiences with certain interests - OTT provides a platform for more massy followership Pan-India (and sometimes globally with NRI audiences). We tend to see that OTT stars will have a concentration within a particular age range, but otherwise have more generalized audiences. 3. Instant Association with Affiliated Themes: They may have recently acted as a character, or in a series, which connects with your brand, meaning instant further association and affinity. Why to skip OTT Stars: 1. Looking for a niche audience: The flip side to having a general audience is that it may not cater well to targeting specific geographies or interests. 2. Looking for expertise: Because they haven’t built their personal brand on a specific category, but rather were popular for their OTT content, branded content can seem out of place depending on the category. 3. They may lack digital engagement: They may be too new to the game, and not have built a knack for digital yet with poor engagement rates. Celebrities: No introductions needed, they’ve made it to the top of the pyramid, and are recognized and loved beyond the big screen Why Celebs are a great choice: 1. Multifaceted: They’ve worn multiple avatars, and can help take your brand to the mass market best. 2. Great digital reach: Most celebs have adopted well. With a single post by a megastar, you can reach double-digit millions. 3. Credibility: Indian consumers love to see a relevant believable face behind a product, and have massive affinities towards their favorite stars. Why to skip the celeb route: 1. Budget-constrained: Celebs are great, but they do come with a cost, and category blocks. 2. Pressed for time: Celebs have busy schedules so ideally you should plan in advance, especially since it may require full set + production 3. Authenticity: Your consumer set is getting smarter than ever, and will question if brand endorsement from a celeb isn’t authentic. The conclusion: India is seeing a new wave of stars that indeed have broken into the fame game based on a wonderful thing – their merit. Their fame has grown because they’ve discovered content topics &amp; formats, stories &amp; characters which their audiences love. We’re also seeing these above cohorts intermingle and engage with each other a whole lot more: Social Media Influencers who do well are being sought after for OTT, and along with OTT Stars are becoming the next Celebs, where as many Celebs are now figuring out and acing the social media and OTT game. If the past year has taught us anything in marketing, it’s that personal, purposeful, people-powered storytelling is here to stay. Audiences are now all the more digitally connected, engaging on multiple screens and platforms often at the same time. With the right selection framework of advocates and ambassadors, expect to see your brand grow to new heights.

The fame game: Deciding between celebrities, influencers, and OTT Stars as endorsers?

<ul><li>The Realme GT Neo 2 starts at ₹31,999 for the 8GB/128GB variant.</li><li>The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 870 chipset.</li><li>It has plenty of good things to offer but misses out on other features.</li><li>Read the full review to see if this would be a good buy.</li></ul>Realme is known to offer some killer specifications at a highly competitive price. The company has now added another name to its GT series — <keyword id="12262077" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="realme-gt-neo-2-5g" source="Orion">Realme GT Neo 2 5G</keyword>. This mid-range device is touted as the flagship killer for its performance at a lower price. The smartphone is powered by one of Qualcomm’s most efficient chipsets, Snapdragon 870. In India, it adds to Realme's GT series that includes the recently launched <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/realme-gt-5g-mobile-phone-review/articleshow/85478447.cms">Realme GT 5G</a> and Realme GT Master Edition. In this review, we will see what the device has to offer in terms of design, display, performance, battery life and does it make for an alluring option for its price. We will also compare some of its specifications to its competitors like Xiaomi Mi 11X 5G, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-m52-5g-review-sleek-design-top-notch-display-and-big-battery/articleshow/86864954.cms">Samsung Galaxy M52</a> 5G and iQOO 7 and see what’s better here and what’s missing. So, without further ado, let’s dive in to find out what’s on offer. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Pricing" comment="subhead" text="Pricing">Pricing</cmsannotation> The Realme GT Neo 2 starts at ₹31,999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant and ₹35,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. It comes in three colour options: Neo Green, Neo Blue and Neo Black. The review unit we received is the 12GB/256GB variant in Neo Black colour. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Design" comment="subhead" text="Design">Design</cmsannotation> The phone features a polycarbonate back with a smooth matte finish. It reflects dual shades when light falls on it. The back is claimed to be scratch resistant and which seems true as of writing this review, but it does catch fingerprints easily. Even though the body is plastic, it looks quite premium and feels exquisite to touch. <div type="image" title="Back (1)" msid="86997219" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The back of the phone looks premium. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>The camera bump with triple sensors is accommodated at the top left side of the back and a Realme branding in silver colour is placed below it. In the front, it houses a selfie camera in a punch-hole cut out at the top left side of the screen and at the bottom centre, we have the in-display fingerprint scanner, which wasn’t as responsive as it should be in 2021. The phone also comes with a face unlock feature which is very swift. <div type="image" title="Bottom (1)" msid="86997281" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;We do not have the 3.5mm audio jack with this phone.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>The Realme GT Neo 2 accommodates the dual SIM tray like most phones of its segment, along with the USB Type-C port and one of the dual stereo speakers. The dual speakers come with Dolby Atmos support and deliver loud and clear audio. <div type="image" title="SIM tray" msid="86997349" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;One drawback of the design is the lack of additional storage option in the SIM tray or elsewhere.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>The power button is on the right side of the phone while the volume buttons are on the left. All the buttons can be accessed easily with a single-handed operation. <div type="image" title="The volume buttons" msid="86997396" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The volume buttons are placed on the left side of the phone.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>The phone is slightly heavier than its competitors, weighing 200g, while Xiaomi Mi 11X and iQoo 7 weigh 196g and Samsung Galaxy M52 even lighter. In the box, you also get an opaque back cover that can help prevent damage from falls and catching fingerprints on the back. Overall, the body feels bulky, having recently finished using the Samsung Galaxy M52 5G, but the weight of the phone is balanced and single-handed usage is possible. One drawback of the design is the lack of additional storage option as it doesn’t support MicroSD cards in the SIM tray or elsewhere. It doesn’t feature the 3.5mm audio jack, but that is for most phones in this price segment. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Display" comment="subhead" text="Display">Display</cmsannotation> It has a 6.62-inch AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 92.6%. The display has relatively thin bezels except for the chin. It offers a high 120Hz refresh rate which makes the scrolling and gaming experience smooth. The refresh rate can be lowered down to the standard 60Hz or adaptive refresh rate that automatically selects the best refresh rate for a particular application. <div type="image" title="Main Image" msid="86997487" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The display supports up to 120Hz refresh rate. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>Using the phone under sunlight is not a hassle as it offers 1300 nits of peak brightness and it shows. The phone comes with HDR10+ support for videos and offers finer picture quality with high contrast and better details. The colours look boosted with more depth while viewing high-resolution videos. <div type="image" title="Display" msid="86997533" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The colours look boosted with more depth while viewing high-resolution videos.&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>It comes with a 600Hz touch sampling rate, which is to ensure the screen responds more naturally to your touches. Although it’s very hard to tell the difference if you have used recent flagship phones, it is noticeable if you switch from a phone with a lower touch sampling rate. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Performance" comment="subhead" text="Performance">Performance</cmsannotation> The GT Neo 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, which is the same as found on its competitors Xiaomi Mi 11X and iQOO 7 while the Samsung Galaxy M52 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G. The phone offers 5G support that makes it ready to be used when 5G rolls out in India. The performance is consistent across various applications and the system. I did not notice any lags while switching between applications or loading them. As I mentioned in the design, the fingerprint sensor is not at par with today’s standards in terms of speed and accuracy. We hope this would be fixed soon via OTA update. The GT Neo 2 comes with a thermal management system that is supposed to improve heat dissipation and lower the heating from resource-intensive applications. However, I did notice slight heating after 45 minutes to an hour of gaming. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gaming" comment="subhead" text="Gaming">Gaming</cmsannotation> The phone can handle heavy games like Asphalt 9 and Playgrounds Mobile India effortlessly even at the highest graphic settings. Its vivid display with a high-performance chipset makes gaming an enjoyable experience. <div type="image" title="Gaming" msid="86997584" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The phone could handle heavy games like Asphalt 9 effortlessly.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>It has a GT mode for g that is supposed to enhance the gaming performance by boosting the CPU performance, setting the refresh rate to maximum and increasing the touch sampling rate, but we did not notice noticeable improvements while gaming. The heating can be an issue if you like to play for long hours. For others, the overall gaming experience was very fluid and can be easily recommended. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Battery" comment="subhead" text="Battery">Battery</cmsannotation> It features a 5,000mAh battery, which is the same as that found in Samsung Galaxy M52 and larger than its other competitors. The screen on time isn’t as much as I could get on the Galaxy M52. Here, I get about 6-7 hours of screen time with mixed usage that includes gaming and watching video content. But to compensate for a mediocre battery life it offers charging speeds that are quite commendable with its 65W SuperDart charger. Realme claims to fully charge the phone in 36 minutes and when I tested it, it went from 5% to 100% in exactly 42minutes, which is quite impressive. Realme always bags an extra point for its charging technology, and it’s actually a useful addition for any user. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Camera" comment="subhead" text="Camera">Camera</cmsannotation> The phone comes with a triple-camera set-up at the back with a 64MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture. The other two sensors include an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro lens. In the front, we have a 16MP selfie camera. <div type="image" title="Rear Camera (5)" msid="86997616" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;A triple camera set-up with 64MP primary sensor.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>The 64MP resolution it offers with the primary sensor is higher than the 48MP sensor on the iQoo 7 and Mi 11X. The Galaxy M52 has the best camera features overall with a 64MP rear camera lens and a 32MP front camera sensor. <div type="image" title="Main Image 2" msid="86997666" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Image taken with main camera lens.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>Talking about the rear camera performance, it is at par with the competitors, but not as good as the Nord 2, especially in daylight. In the daylight, the photos look very sharp and the colours have depth in them. They have a high dynamic range, especially when the photos are clicked with objects having high contrast. The white-balance is good in outdoor lighting, but the exposure may be inconsistent at times especially when you try to click a moving object. <div type="image" title="Main Camera Image" msid="86997693" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Another image taken with the primary sensor in photo mode. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>Images clicked using the ultra-wide lens in daylight look decent until you zoom in when it starts to appear grainy. Pictures clicked using the macro mode are out of focus. When I tried clicking images of a flower from a close range in the macro hoping to get a clear close up of the petal, the results came out blurry even after giving it multiple tries. <div type="image" title="Wide Angle" msid="86997732" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Image taken using ultra-wide lens.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>At night, the performance of the camera diminishes significantly, especially in areas with fewer light sources. However, with Night mode you could capture some more light and colours. But the images still remained blurry. <div type="image" title="Bokeh Mode" msid="86997758" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Image in Boken mode with blurry background.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>In terms of video, the rear cameras allow you to capture videos in 4K, 1080p and 720p at both 60fps and 30fps. The videos that I took appear highly saturated and the phone could also pick the audio with great clarity. However, the phone does not come with optical image stabilisation and it may capture shaky footage or you have to hold your phone steadily. As for the modes, you can click images with the normal photo mode, Bokeh mode, 64-megapixel for clicking high-resolution images, starry mode, pro-mode, panorama, ultra macro and street mode. The videos can be recorded in the normal video mode, slo-mo, movie mode for experts and a dual video mode that captures footage using both the front and back camera. <div type="image" title="Front Camera (4)" msid="86997800" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;16MP selfie camera.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>As for the performance of the front camera, the pictures I clicked did have some artificial enhancement, but the colour reproduction is close to natural and it did not make me look fairer or darker. You can shoot videos using the front camera in both 1080p and 720p resolutions. The front camera can also be used in the night mode and the portrait mode. The camera app was very responsive and the loading time was very less. I did not face any hiccups while switching the camera or swapping between various modes. The camera performance is good enough for anyone who likes to take occasional photos and can work with something that clicks social media worthy pictures. Unlike some of its features, it is far from what flagship devices from Samsung, Apple or even OnePlus have to offer. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Software" comment="subhead" text="Software">Software</cmsannotation> It comes with Realme UI version 2.0 running on Android 11. The UI looks clean with plenty of options to customise your display, such as changing the layout, wallpapers, icons and more. It allows you to switch to eye-comfort mode to prevent the straining of eyes while reading. Along with it, you can also operate your phone in dark mode. There is an option to enhance the colour of videos and sharpen the images by switching on the O1 Ultra Vision Engine. It also comes with plenty of bloatware applications such as Moj, Daily Hunt, Josh, Soloop and others. It has plenty of apps pre-installed including Amazon, Prime Videos, Amazon Music. However, you can delete most of the unwanted apps except for the systems applications such as clock, calculator, compass, HeyTap Cloud and others. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Verdict" comment="subhead" text="Verdict">Verdict</cmsannotation> The Realme GT Neo 2 provides excellent performance at the cost of low battery life. But it compensates for that with a fast charger. The camera is just mediocre, but the display is highly responsive and works well for most use cases. When compared to its competitors, it offers similar specifications and features at a slightly higher price. It can be considered for a high-performance chipset, its dual stereo speakers and the 65W fast-charging support. But if you are looking for a sleeker device, the Samsung Galaxy M52 5G can a good choice for its lightweight design, additional storage option, better battery life and slightly lower price, however, you should note that its chipset is not as powerful as we have it on the Realme GT Neo 2, or the iQoo 7 or the Mi 11X. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/interview-intel-wants-to-make-pcs-the-best-platform-to-game-heres-the-plan/articleshow/86990473.cms">INTERVIEW: Intel wants to make PCs the best platform to game — Here's the plan</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-m52-5g-review-sleek-design-top-notch-display-and-big-battery/articleshow/86864954.cms">Samsung Galaxy M52 5G review: Sleek design, top-notch display and big battery</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/asus-vivobook-k15-review-well-rounded-impressive-for-the-price/articleshow/86756292.cms">Asus VivoBook K15 review: Well rounded, impressive for the price</a>

Realme GT Neo 2 5G review: Great performance, fine display but camera needs work

<ul><li>As we enter a brand new year, we want to crystal gaze into what the year holds for us.</li><li>The global pandemic has spawned strong growth in influencer marketing and creators have cemented their position boosting consumer trust in 2022.</li><li>In our first year-ender, we take a closer look at the year gone by, speak to influencer marketing experts to understand what does the future hold and how is the ecosystem shaping up.</li><li>They also shared with us a few key trends and opportunities that the industry will bring forth as we move forward in 2022.</li></ul>After brands and advertisers slashed their marketing budgets for traditional mediums in 2020, digital marketing took the center stage. Within the hemisphere of digital marketing, social media became a leading channel that drove brand discovery and purchase decisions last year. Influencer marketing also got its due recognition as brands looked for affordable and niche options to reach out to GenZ and Millennials. Marketers also realised that the influencer marketing model is well-suited in a time in which the audience is looking for some inspiration to keep going on, searching DIY videos as they turned home chefs, learning new recipes or focusing on self-care. Creators played an integral role in building a sense of community -- something people searched for when living in isolation. Bolstered by prolonged stay-at-home periods, consumers also steered away from pictures and text and started consuming more videos than ever before. According to Bain and Company, the online video user base in India has increased to more than 350 million people, growing 24% in the last three years. Today, Indian smartphone users spend about 4.8 hours on their devices daily, of which a staggering one hour on average is spent consuming videos, said the report. So, as video consumption scales and attention span reduces every day, influencer marketing offers quick turnaround time and personalisation. Another key factor that attracted brands to this medium is the bond of trust and authenticity that creators share with their fans, giving brands an opportunity to reach out to a niche audience. As a result, the influencer marketing industry has gone through a severe transformation in a short time, becoming a mainstream marketing vehicle. Brands have started looking for agencies that can provide them with interesting campaign ideas rather than just a list of influencers and expected reach. They are more involved in their marketing campaigns and have started exploring creative ideas collectively with the influencers to create engaging content. So, in 2021, we saw brands moving away from ‘one-time associations’ for single posts to actually collaborating with influencers for long-time deals. GroupM and INCA’s study conducted earlier this year also proves how significant influencer marketing is to a marketer today. It said that influencer marketing has become a top priority for marketers this year, as every other leader indicated a budget growth of more than 25% in 2021. INCA’s report further went on to predict that the Influencer Marketing industry is poised to grow at a CAGR of 25% for the next decade, reaching a size of Rs 2200 crore in 2025. As per the report, celebrities corner only 27% of the marketing dollars while a bulk of 73% are taken by digital influencers. Keeping in mind how 2020 and its aftermath in 2021 revolutionised the digital industry, we reached out to a few influencer marketing agencies to understand what does the future hold and how is the ecosystem shaping up. Here is what they said: Neel Gogia, Co-founder of IPLIX Media: The upcoming year is bringing a plethora of opportunities for existing as well as aspiring influencers and creators. The first and foremost are long-term partnerships. With each passing day, more and more brands are realizing that ROI delivered by influencer marketing is unparalleled. Therefore, they are increasingly investing in influencer marketing, and especially in long-term partnerships. Long-term partnerships help them build advocates and ultimately, increase trust amongst the audience. Apart from that, the regionalization of content will increasingly be gaining momentum in the upcoming years. In fact, global brands and platforms are already experimenting with it. Recently, LinkedIn launched its regional version after almost every major global networking app available in the country across Facebook, Twitter and Clubhouse have already introduced it to support the multiple Indian languages. In this wave of regionalization, the local languages that are gaining popularity are Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam, etc. Dharika Merchant, COO, WORD and Alchemy Group: The influencer marketing industry in 2022 will see a huge rise in the demand for micro influencers. Micro influencers' share in the total industry increased drastically last year due to brands favouring them owing to their higher engagement rates &amp; affordability. The industry is expected to shift to a more data-driven approach which will become the primary reason for the rise in demand for micro-influencers. Brands are now willing to work on branded content with micro influencers due to favourable data and better insights. It also leads to an effortless long-term relationship between the brand and the influencer thereby ensuring an always-on marketing approach. This always-on influencer marketing approach portrays brand loyalty from an influencer point of view and adds onto credibility of the brand and better brand recall. Without a doubt, focus on micro influencers will be one of the leading trends for the industry in the coming year and we’re excited to see how this changes the face of branded content. Pranav Panpalia, founder, OpraahFx: ‘Live streaming’ is all set to emerge as one of the widely accepted and used influencer marketing tools in the coming year. Live-eCommerce as a concept was started in China last year during the pandemic and got popularized amongst other nations. Live-eCommerce is a great way to connect with the right set of target audiences and turn them into ‘customers’ of the brand the influencers are vouching for. This is one of the best ways for brands who are focusing on ‘ROI’ driven campaigns and not on awareness or brand-building. In India, with many start-ups and MSME brands now focusing on performance-driven influencer marketing campaigns, the concept of live-eCommerce will be practiced and this shall disrupt the influencer marketing industry. Brands promoting highly accessible and affordable products and services are more likely to make use of this new concept. Alongside, live streaming is known for enabling better connections between creators, brands, and consumers as it is a more authentic and real-time content piece. It also provides an opportunity for consumers to interact with their favorite creators, thereby there is a larger scope for personalisation, feedback, and results-driven conversations. Currently, the live-streaming concept is highly dominated by gamers, and this trend will soon see a shift. The live-stream feature provides an equal opportunity and benefits to influencers and content creators of all kinds if used strategically and creatively. For eg: Content creator, Viya from China live-streams about beauty, cosmetics, real estate, cars, and rockets; and is gaining immense out of such brand deals. Likewise, we too are soon to witness such a trend in India. Apaksh Gupta, CEO and Founder, One Impression: While there are going to be plenty of emerging trends that we are expecting to take over the influencer marketing economy in 2022, one particular trend that is going to stand out is the mainstreaming of the metaverse. The way the world of content and social media is evolving, we can easily assume now that the metaverse is here. While the pandemic forced brands to jump on the digital marketing train, newer technological innovation and integration of various platforms to build a virtual ecosystem is bringing the dream of Metaverse closer every day. 2022 is going to witness a lot of investments from brands into mainstreaming the metaverse. We have already seen in 2021 that bigger brands like Nike and Verizon are already initiating their strategies to get a head start in this league from their competitors. Gucci has also launched its limited collection for Roblox letting players customise their avatars in Gucci products. In 2022, we will be witnessing an increase in these numbers of brands who will be deploying technologies like AR/VR with influencers and content creators at the centre of them to promote their products and services. Rohan Tyagi, VP Strategy and Operations, India - Triller: The advent of technologies like NFTs, Crypto has opened up new engagement and revenue channels for brands. In fact, there is great affinity toward it among GenZ and millennial buyers. Through NFTs, brands can disrupt their markets with new strategies to raise awareness, develop new consumer journeys and increase customer value and loyalty. However, In the decentralized world of Web3, the power has shifted back to creators, and brands looking to leverage technologies like NFTs know that they cant simply buy into the space. Community interest today is driven by creators as a result there will be an uptick in brands partnering with influencers to leverage the opportunities afforded by NFTs. While influencer marketing is a fairly young industry with Metaverse becoming mainstream there is a huge likelihood of it taking off quickly and becoming a multibillion-dollar economy in the virtual world. In fact, this may happen much quicker than we think. Aayush Tiwari, VP - Talent Management &amp; Music Business, Monk Entertainment: One pretty evident trend is the dominance of short video content. We’ve noticed a wave of crisp crunchable 15-30 seconder bites taking the internet by storm in 2021 already, bound to multiply in the coming years. Factors that act as a catalyst are low entry barrier, easy to make, large-scale consumption. What drives the short video ecosystem is the ability of it getting recreated under the banner of ‘trends.’ Every week, there are hypothetically ten new trends which garner lakhs of videos lifting the consumption and UGC levels to higher levels. Dominant social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube launched their verticals, and new players like MOJ, TakaTak, Chingari entered the game encouraging regional tiers to showcase their talent. Even Netflix launched a short vertical that features the best scenes from their series, which people are binge-ing on the go. Vaibhav Odhekar, Managing director India &amp; Middle East, AnyMind Group: Influencer marketing has seen few major changes from the consumer approach towards the whole marketing and influencer segment and monetization of platforms. With the rising social media consumption and engagement, D2C brands across segments have moved towards influencers marketing. As per 'State of Influencer in Asia 2021' report by Antag, the most popular are Art &amp; Entertainment, Food &amp; Beverage and Fashion &amp; Beauty while Finance, health &amp; wellness are also attractive eyeballs and set to become trendsetting in 2022. One of the trends that stood out this year was Influencers creating and launching their own brands, driven by their expertise in a certain field, passion or life experience. Along with Direct-to-consumer and e-commerce, Consumer behavior shifts driven by the pandemic have accelerated trends. We've also noticed a trend of rising social commerce which will stay. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter have already made such features available in some parts of the world. The report also found out that Youtube is the most used social media platform in India. As we move towards 2022, more trends will see a spike and the ongoing trends will keep growing with the brands' demand. Sagar Pushp, Co-founder and CEO, ClanConnect: Two major trends are emerging in the influencer marketing sector and will likely dominate in 2022. Firstly, the creator economy will move towards a subscription-led model wherein true fans will be able to pay a sum of money to access exclusive influencer content. Such premium content will not be available on public platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Secondly, the use of NFTs is going to skyrocket over the next year. With NFTs, users can assume ownership of content such as images, videos, or sound clips, unlocking more revenue opportunities for creators. Pulkit Agrawal, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Trell: Two words: Social Commerce. While the pandemic has given a massive push to India’s creator economy, the industry will thrive in 2022, with newer shopping and engagement models being adopted across the ecosystem. India’s GenZ and millennial shoppers are now harder to reach through traditional media channels and prefer social media networks to make purchase decisions. Hence, brands now want to integrate social and commerce to drive higher awareness, consideration, and sales. Further, Vertical videos are bound to take the centre stage in the coming year, which means long-form or episodic content will create opportunities for influencers to integrate brands into their content with the help of data-driven insights- brands and influencers will churn more personalized content for their followers’ The rise of social commerce in India will also give a fillip to digital-first brands while opening up newer avenues for influencers to monetize from brand collaborations, making it a full-time profession. With this, the industry is all set to create transforming shopping experiences and become more interactive, immersive, and entertaining. Live commerce is one of such innovations where an influencer demonstrates product usability in a live video setting, driving higher visibility, excitement, and loyalty for consumers. Gautam Madhavan, CEO, Mad Influence: Short Video and Live Stream will dominate in the influencer marketing industry. Consumers are becoming restless in watching long format videos - hence they want to consume on-the-go type of content. Original Content will be one of the key factors driving this. Content Quality and content authenticity is something consumers will be wanting.

You Searched For "music on moj" and got 10 results

Ritviz’s latest album is ‘30-second songs’ made for content creators on short video platform Moj

BI India Bureau

After Facebook-Saregama deal, Sharechat and T-Series partner up for a music licensing deal

Sanchita Dash

ShareChat and MX Media announce a strategic merger of Moj and MX TakaTak

BI India Partner

TikTok alternatives⁠— reviews of the top three short video apps on Google Play Store

Prabhjote Gill

ShareChat's TikTok rival Moj crosses 5mn downloads on Google Play

IANS

The almost 120-year-old Saregama is ready for the future; here is how it is transitioning to stay relevant for the next few decades

Samarpita Banerjee

Sharechat raises $40 million from Twitter, Pawan Munjal, SAIF Partners and others

IANS

The fame game: Deciding between celebrities, influencers, and OTT Stars as endorsers?

Guest Author

Realme GT Neo 2 5G review: Great performance, fine display but camera needs work

Shadab Rabbani

Influencer Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2022

Karuna Sharma