MxMIndia

Tag: ShareChat

  • To lead Strategy Team for Ads business for both ShareChat & Moj

    ShareChat appoints Vishal Sinha as Ads Strategy Head

    By Our Staff

     

    ShareChat, social media platform, owned by Bangalore-based Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd, appoints Vishal Sinha as the Director of Ads Strategy. In the new role, Sinha will spearhead growth pillars for brand, content and lead performance marketing for both ShareChat and Moj, through direct and agency business.

     

    Welcoming Sinha, Udit Sharma, Chief Revenue Officer, ShareChat & Moj, said: “We are thrilled to have Vishal on board. Vishal with his extensive experience brings a strong set of skill sets across different verticals and will add immense value to our team. In the past few years, we have scaled advertising solutions with our unique offerings that have helped businesses drive growth and form strong connections with communities. We are sure his expertise will help scale business strategy for the holistic growth of our organization.”

     

  • An online certification program for Advertisers, Marketers and Businesses

    ShareChat introduces Learning Hub

    By Our Staff

     

    ShareChat, multilingual social media platform, has launched ShareChat Learning Hub, a certification program specially designed for marketers, advertisers and brands. The idea behind launching this free-of-cost, self-paced learning program is to enable brands to leverage ShareChat & Moj’s network of more than 400 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs) to reach an ‘uncharted’ Bharat and young India (Gen Z & millennials) audiences and create high-performing campaigns that drive great results. It also aims to highlight the immense potential of short-form videos to drive campaign messaging in a differentiated manner for young India.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the program, Udit Sharma, Chief Revenue Officer, ShareChat & Moj said: “As the preferred content destination for Bharat, we understand the pulse of diverse language-first Indian users and young India. ShareChat Learning Hub is a step towards enabling brands, advertisers and marketers to deploy our comprehensive ad formats and content innovations that have been designed keeping in mind the media consumption behaviour of Bharat and Gen-Z audiences on ShareChat and Moj.”

     

  • To lead monetisation efforts within mid-market and SMB clients

    ShareChat appoints Gaurav Jain as Head of Emerging Business

    By Our Staff

     

    ShareChat, social media and social networking service, developed by Bengaluru-based Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd., has appointed Gaurav Jain as Head of Emerging Business to lead its monetisation efforts. At ShareChat, Jain will focus on reaching mid-market and SMB clients and head the independent agency network in India.

     

    Welcoming Jain, Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Co-founder of ShareChat and Moj, said: “We are happy to have Gaurav on board with us to lead monetization of emerging businesses for ShareChat. As longtail merchants and MSMEs are transitioning to digital advertising, ShareChat and Moj are the foremost platforms to reach the Bharat audience. In the past year, we have developed several services and offerings tailored for brands keen to engage with their audience based in the regional markets. We are creating customizable hyperlocal advertising solutions that allow business owners to target customers in their preferred local languages with affordable price points and high ROI opportunities. Gaurav’s rich experience and expertise in growing mid-market segments will surely help us in achieving leadership in local markets.”

     

  • To power a new era of modern marketing

    GroupM India inks strategic partnership with ShareChat

    By Our Staff

     

    GroupM India and ShareChat have announced a partnership to power a “new era of modern marketing”.

     

    Said Prasanth Kumar, GroupM South Asia CEO: “At GroupM, we have embraced the digital disruption and have instilled digital as one of the major cornerstones to drive change. The challenges thrown by digital transformation have immensely contributed to our learning and introduced us to newer consumer habits, in turn enabling us to add value to our clients by offering tailored marketing solutions. We see our partnership with ShareChat going a long way in benefitting our clients as it effectively connects with a large population of the country.”

     

    Added former GroupM India and global honcho Ajit Varghese, Chief Commercial Officer, ShareChat and Moj: “Today, the consumer ecosystem is constantly evolving, however, majority of the marketing spends continues to be parked for tried and tested platforms. It’s time for the marketing and advertising fraternity to realize the urgent need to adapt to this rapid change. We are glad to have partnered with GroupM in offering ShareChat’s expertise to enable brands to reach the Bharat and Gen Z consumers effectively and at scale.”

     

  • Day 1 saw the Media & Publisher Abby. Mindshare bagged the Media Agency of the Year title

    It’s Goafest time again…

     

     

    By Our Staff

     

    Goafest 2022 started on high energy. Singer Sukhbir electrified the auditiorium to kick off the 15th edition which happened after a two-year Covid pandemic-led hiatus. The festival started with the lighting of the lamp and the unveiling of AAAI’s new logo. The underlying theme being of celebrating The SuperPower Within.

     

    AAAI’s new logo has been created created by Tempest Advertising’s art director, Lohidasu. The agency’s design was chosen amidst 200 entries. The logo effectively brought the past, the present and the future of both AAAI and advertising in unison. The official unveiling of the redesigned logo at the Goafest, was done by Rohit Ohri, Chairman and CEO of FCB Ulka and film star, Yami Gautam.

     

    Further, the Industry Conclave presented by ABP Group marked the beginning of the festival with the first session of the day, witnessing actress Yami Gautam in a one-on-one conversation with Rana Barua, Chairman, Abby Awards Governing Council 2022 and Vice President of The Ad This was followed by a keynote by Vineeta Singh, Co-founder and CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics & Shark, Shark Tank India, who highlighted the importance of building a brand with quality products and content before focusing on advertising. She also emphasized the power of empowering a team, which mirrors the ethos of Sugar, passionately stating, “Empower them and let them go rule the world!”

     

    The next session saw Ankush Sachdeva, Co-Founder & CEO, Sharechat & Moj, in conversation with Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO Madison Media & OOH at Madison World.  Following this was a session in partnership with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), where Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary (CA), Ministry of Consumer Affairs & Food Distribution spoke with Piyush Pandey, Chairman of Global Creative Ogilvy Worldwide & Executive Chairman, Ogilvy India discussing the importance of consumer protection and its responsibility that we have as professionals. The session was moderated by Subhash Kamath, Chairman, ASCI & CEO, BBH, India. Singh ended the session on an impotant note: “If we don’t look after the interest of the consumer, who will?”

     

    After that Kiran Bedi, Former Lt Governor Puducherry and one of India’s best known retired IPS offices, highlighted the importance of leadership, emphasising: “Leadership is internal – you start with yourself; if you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead people.”

     

    This year, for the first time ever,  after over 50 years of being solo, the Advertising Club collaborated with The One Show.

     

    Speaking about Goafest 2022, Anupriya Acharya, President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said, “It’s been a tough two years, and it’s great to be back on-ground not only in terms of organising the festival but also where achievements are concerned. We are thrilled to  have everyone back, bonding and celebrating this festival.”

     

    Added Jaideep Gandhi, Chairman, Goafest 2022 Organising Committee: “Goafest has undoubtedly grown into one of the most prestigious conventions in South Asia, bringing together some of the most talented and brightest creative geniuses from all walks of life to celebrate the ad-land spirit. We are looking to keep the overall exuberance of this year’s festival about enjoyment, about people coming together to celebrate and connect. As a result, we will be able to understand the true essence of organizing a festival after experiencing two major setbacks in the past. The Goafest festival gives young talent the chance to interact and learn from some of the industry’s stalwarts. These people have played a crucial role in paving the way for them, making the event worthwhile. In addition to these benefits, it serves as a place where young people can engage and network cohesively with the entire media and advertising fraternity.”

     

    Discussing the ABBY Awards at Goafest 2022, Partha Sinha, President, The Advertising Club said, “2022 is definitely a landmark year because of the collaboration of the Abby  Awards with The One Show, and this is a game-changing proposition. It gives a platform to a plethora of agencies, enabling it to become more global. We owe it to the industry to bring something of global standing especially when we are one large world.”

     

    Speaking about the Abbys Awards, Rana Barua, Chairman, Abby Awards Governing Council 2022 & Vice President of The Ad Club said, “A staggering number of participants has been witnessed, surpassing all previous records. In addition to agencies that have participated since our inception, we have also seen those returning every year. Overall, the numbers are higher this month since we had to package everything together in one month. This year and henceforth, Goafest will be considerably bigger and more extravagant.”

     

     

  • Joins as Chief Product Officer

    Amit Zunjarwad moves from Flipkart to ShareChat

    By Our Staff

     

    Amit Zunjarwad
    Amit Zunjarwad

    ShareChat, the multilingual social media company, has appointed Amit Zunjarwad as its Chief Product Officer. At ShareChat, Zunjarwad will build on ShareChat and Moj platforms’ momentum and play a critical role in building innovative and entertaining social experiences.

     

    Most recently, AZ was Head of Engineering, Product and Data Sciences for Supply & Selection Ecosystem at Flipkart.

     

    Said Ankush Sachdeva, Co-Founder & CEO, ShareChat and Moj: “I am delighted to welcome Amit to our leadership team. He brings a wealth of experience and insights from building large-scale disruptive businesses from the ground up and scaling them to sustainable business models. With his expertise in driving innovation and customer growth, we are sure to see new product innovations that will set the roadmap for the next phase of our growth. Amit will play a critical role in leading the product journey of all our platforms and deliver sustainable value to our user and creator communities.”

     

  • Of Moj and MX TakaTak to create short video platform

    ShareChat & MX Media merge

    By Our Staff

     

    MX Media Co. Ltd, the parent company of MX TakaTak, and ShareChat, the parent company of Moj, have announced a strategic merger between Moj and MX TakaTak, 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.

     

    Commenting on the merger, Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Cofounder, ShareChat & 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.”

     

    Added Karan Bedi, CEO MX Media: “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.”

     

  • It disrupt the current digital media consumption pattern of Indians, writes Indrani Sen

    Boom, Boom! India’s Short Form Video (SFV) market explodes. And how!

     

     

    By Indrani Sen

     

    Indrani SenThe Indian government’s ban on TikTok in June 2020 along with 50+ other Chinese apps was a blessing in disguise for the homegrown user generated short video apps. TikTok, introduced in India in September 2016, opened up a new category of users in digital media consumption and had almost 90% share of the total time spent by Indian netizens on creation and consumption of short video contents.

     

    In fact, as I wrote here on May 4, 2020, (https://www.mxmindia.com/2020/05/indrani-sen-tiktok-ticks-fast-in-india-during-lockdown/) during the first two weeks of the lockdown in 2020, TikTok along with Aarogya Setu were the two most favourite apps downloaded by the Indians.

     

    Six months after the ban on TikTok, we saw many homegrown apps like Times Internet’s MX TakaTak, ShareChat’s Moj, InMobi’s Roposo, Dailyhunt’s Josh, Tech4Billion Media’s Chingari, etc. trying hard to fill in the void left by the sudden disappearance of Tik Tok. In June 2021m the combined efforts of all the homegrown apps got back nearly 97% of daily active users compared to June 2020. Aggressive influencer marketing and content creation in local languages on these platforms were the two main factors which helped in getting back lapsed users as well as create new users. Many of these platforms initially used Tik Tok’s name for promoting their apps on digital media.

     

     

     

    A year after, in October 2021, a report by Redseer Consulting revealed that homegrown Indian short video apps have nearly 250 million monthly active users (MAU) compared to Tik Tok’s monthly active users (MAU) of 170 million users at the time of its closure in September 2020. These platforms’ offer of creating short videos in local languages as well as simple interfaces accessible by cheaper smartphones helped to make inroads to small towns and rural areas. The Redseer report estimated that active users spend up to 45 minutes daily on these platforms.

     

    The combined monthly active userbase (MAU) of the homegrown short video apps stood at 170-190 million beyond India’s 50 cities, as per the Redseer report titled ‘Short-form video – The Rise of Made in India Digital Content.’ The report stated that 60-62% of the short-form video users are from Tier 2+ cities, a proof of the fact that India’s short-form video (SFV) market has spread to “Bharat”. There is a huge scope of growth as compared to more than 90% of internet users in China using online videos, in India the penetration of online video users is below 60% of Internet users.

     

    India’s short-form video (SFV) market is set for an exponential growth over the next few years to 500-600 million by 2025. RedSeer has further predicted that short-form content would be overtaking the over-the-top (OTT) or streaming video content users by middle of this decade. The entertaining content supported by influencers has made short-form video the fastest-growing content category in Indian digital space. The marketing and advertising strategies of the major platforms have also changed as shown in the more recent advertisements of MX TakaTak featuring Virat Kohli and Chingari featuring Salman Khan.

     

    Last month, an article in www.exchange4media discussed how “after successfully filling in the void created by the ban of TikTok, the desi short-video platforms are now looking beyond advertising revenue”. Many of the platforms are now exploring revenue streams like live and social commerce and are actively driving the growth of live creator driven social commerce in India and the SFV market.

     

    Let me share a few examples of this changing scenario here. Trell, an early adopter, entered the social commerce space in 2020 by setting up Trell Shop marketplace which today offers 500+ brands. Moj has entered into a deal on video commerce partnership with Flipkart. Bolo Indya renamed itself Bolo LIVE in order to emerge as a leading social live-streaming platform in India. Roposo has fully transformed from a short video platform to a creator-led live entertainment commerce platform. Woovly has targeted youth in T2, T3 cities with short videos on lifestyle products through by short videos created by micro/ nano influencers in regional languages. Chingari has recently launched its own crypto token $Gari and NFT marketplace. $Gari token will become the default currency for transactions made on Chingari platform. All these moves have been possible due to various high profile investment deals made by these platforms.

     

    Our local short video apps also have a scope to go global. Dailyhunt launched their short video app Josh about a year back. Recently Josh featured in the Top 10 of App Store and Play Store downloads in May 2021. As per Sensor Tower, Josh ranked as the world’s 10th most downloaded app overall, and as eighth most downloaded on Play Store. Chingari’s crypto token is listed in top 13 exchanges across the world. There is no doubt that India’s SFV market is all set for an explosive growth in the coming years which will create a disruption in the current digital media consumption pattern of Indians.

     

  • To lead its marketing efforts

    ShareChat appoints Akshat Sahu as Director Marketing

    By Our Staff

     

    Akshat Sahu
    Akshat Sahu

    ShareChat, the social media platform, has announced the appointment of Akshat Sahu as Director, Marketing. He will be reporting to Ajit Varghese, Chief Commercial Officer, Moj and ShareChat.

     

    Welcoming Sahu to ShareChat, Varghese said: “Akshat brings in a strong set of skills and his expertise in branding and marketing will add a lot of value to our team. He is a proven marketing leader with strong strategic acumen, in-depth consumer insights and highly efficient operational focus. We hope he will bring immense value and spread our brand reputation across the diverse group of stakeholders as we continue to build ShareChat on our long-term strategy.”

     

    Added Sahu: “I have always been intrigued by the diversity of India and it is a special opportunity to be working with a company that is pioneering the Indic language conversations in the internet space. I am looking forward to contributing to the company’s growth with my core area of expertise and making ShareChat a household name in India.”

     

  • He will be responsible for driving monetisation at ShareChat, leading its marketing efforts and spearheading content partnerships to drive revenues

    Ajit Varghese joins ShareChat as Chief Commercial Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    ShareChat, the social media platform in Indic languages, has announced the appointment of Ajit Varghese as its Chief Commercial Officer.

     

    Prior to joining ShareChat, Varghese was Global President at GroupM;s Wavemaker and worked with industry giants like  Vodafone, L’Oreal, Huawei, IKEA, Paramount Pictures, Chanel, Xerox, Netflix, Chevron, Beiersdorf, and Tiffany.

     

    Known to be an exceedingly passionate leader, at ShareChat, Varghese will expandi and  strengthen the platform’s revenue efforts, and building a robust monetisation approach with strategic content partnership. He will also spearhead its marketing functions, to be inclined towards brand elevation, aligned with business centricity. He will be reporting into Farid Ahsan, COO and Co-founder at ShareChat.

     

    Welcoming  Varghese,  Ahsan said: “Brand marketing and monetisation is going to be the core focus of ShareChat and we will direct our efforts towards elevating the brand positioning through strategic communications approach. Ajit, with his leadership capabilities and expert knowledge of the media, marketing and advertising domain, will play a critical role in further building brand awareness, deepening relationships with our business stakeholders and driving ShareChat toward the next phase of growth. Having held many globally influential   roles across his 25+ years of experience, his expertise will help us build ShareChat for the future and it is a matter of great pride to have him on our leadership team.”

     

    Added Varghese: “Having previously worked and transformed several global organisations, it has always been a hidden desire to contribute towards transforming an Indian organisation to global repute. I believe ShareChat in the next few years will evolve as the default partner to every brand, homegrown and global, who intends to engage with the internet-first population. As the digital advertising landscape awaits the inclusion of over 400 million new internet users, mostly inclined towards native languages, ShareChat will stay at the forefront of unveiling a new digital era. This will be an exciting journey for me as I look forward towards contributing to ShareChat’s growth and building a win-win relationship with our community of users, partners and business stakeholders.”

     

    An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, and a graduate in agriculture engineering from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Varghese has worked across India, Singapore and London and in leadership in Wavemaker (WPP), Maxus (WPP) and  Madison World.

     

     

  • Hindi led the UGC creation with 22.5 per cent share; followed by Tamil and Telegu

    ShareChat report highlights key UGC trends

    By A Correspondent

     

    ShareChat has announced its year-end ‘2019 UGC Trendz’ report for India. The report talks about the key UGC trends and topics that are driving online conversations amongst its 60 million monthly active users spread across 15 languages currently.

     

    Entertainment has topped the trend with over 23 per cent users creating/ posting content on the genre this year. Conversation on romance is also high with over 14 per cent content coming from the genre and is trending at the second spot.

     

    The sense of nationalism has come out very strong with top moments being seized as Elections 2019, Pulwama Attack and tribute to martyrs and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

     

    In 2019, ShareChat witnessed the growth in the number of first time internet users with millions of new users joining the platform this year. The growth is attributed to the availability of the social media platform in their regional languages, contributing to user generated content in native languages by over 21 million creators.

     

    Commenting on the ShareChat Trendz report 2019, Sunil Kamath, Chief Business Officer, ShareChat said: “ShareChat demonstrates the demography of India with diversity in mindsets, interests and preferences in terms of art, culture, food and more importantly, its dialects. The same is also reflected in the UGC behaviour of Indians coming on the platform. These synergies make ShareChat a preferred platform for native language users. The last five years have been a great learning experience and we have grown from zero to 60 million monthly active users, mostly organic way as we truly understand the heart and pulse of every native language user and connect well through our platform.”

     

     

  • Cauvery Calling is aimed at revitalising Cauvery river by planting more trees and transform the lives of 84million people

    ShareChat spreads awareness to restore Cauvery

    By A Correspondent

     

    ShareChat has launched three different campaigns ‘#Cauvery calling’, ‘#Water a plant’ and ‘#How to conserve water’ to raise awareness in support of the ongoing movement to rejuvenate Cauvery river, an initiative started by Isha Foundation and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.

     

    Notes a communique: “With each campaign hashtag, ShareChat has taken a big step in making its existing and new users cognizant about the environmental issues. ShareChat urged users to share video in line with the Cauvery calling anthem and hashtag ‘#Cauvery calling’. Adding another layer, ShareChat proposed users to plant more tress and water the ones in their vicinity with ‘#Water a plant’ and finally with ‘#How to conserve water’ hashtag users shared videos on the numerous methods and approaches to conserve water.”