19 years ago, the first video was uploaded to YouTube. Since then, YouTube has become a place where everyday people with passions can turn their creativity into thriving careers. India’s most successful creators, across genres, regions and languages, have proven this time and again.
In light of April 23, a day celebrated by some part of the creator community as International Creator Day, some of India’s creators shared their thoughts on their blueprint to harnessing the digital video potential.
In the ever-changing world of video content, success means continuously evolving to stay in tune with your audience. Take Mithilesh Patankar aka Mythpat – whose content on YouTube has evolved from gameplay, into an engaging combination of comedy, storytelling and narration. His “GTA in Real Life”, one of 2023’s top Gaming Videos, was a hit because he had his finger on the pulse of his audience.
“I really like making unique videos. I’ve been playing GTA for the past six years now and it is my favourite game. I’d already made a lot of content on it and had always dreamed of recreating GTA in real life. So when the opportunity knocked on my door, I embraced it. Many creators had already made videos recreating GTA in real life. But I wanted to do something different. I reached out to one of the three main characters in the game to shoot a video with me and the video turned out to be great. My idea was to merge the worlds of gaming and entertainment,” says Mythpat.
Creators like Chef Sanjyot Keer of Your Food Lab keeps things fresh, adapting to new formats while always maintaining the quality that his viewers have come to expect. “I produced 83 videos ready before I went live with my YouTube channel. I was really scared about how people would react and I was quite determined to prove myself. When I had about 80 videos I knew I had content to consistently upload for three months and there was no looking back! Luckily, the third video got about a million views and in the first month itself it garnered about a lakh followers,” says Sanjyot Keer.
YouTube has also helped creators engage new audiences beyond boundaries. Creators like BhaDiPa have shown that regional content can find fans far beyond language boundaries. BhaDiPa’s success with Marathi programming exemplifies maintaining a unique cultural identity while appealing to audiences across the country.
“We’ve even experimented with YouTube’s multi-language audio tool which we’ve used to dub some of our content in Hindi and English. We found that our premium web series like B.E. Rojgaar had a lot of non-Marathi audience. We want to now dub that show, especially in South languages, and see how that can help us. That will be fun to explore!, says Paula McGlynn, CEO, BhaDiPa
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