Is Bollywood taking over the web?

The appeal of a Bollywood celebrity is profound when it comes to impacting Indians; be it entertainment quotient, a reason to watch something or buy a product – if a Bollywood star makes an appearance in something, consider it sold!

New-Gen driven web entertainment industry, one of the fastest growing media platforms in the country right now, and its overwhelming reach, seems to have caught the attention and eye of B-Town celebrities, who are jumping onto the new money-spinner.

At a first count, about 20 A-list celebrities have made an appearance in one or more web series in the past one month, including the likes of Nimrat Kaur, Sunny Leone and King Khan along with his celebrated partner, Kajol have played cameos in episodes of web series.

In our attempt to analyse this trend, The Hans India spoke to prominent movers and shakers in the hip and happening web industry; the bosses of three major media houses- Y-Films, The Viral Fever and (the biggest MCN) One Digital Entertainment.

Y-Films
A-list Bollywood celebrities are taking to the web every week. What could be the reason for this?

There are several obvious reasons for why several celebrities across the world are taking to the Internet in such a big way.

Firstly, the sheer reach of the web is no longer small anymore and its pace of growth is outstripping any other medium that exists given better broadband, cheaper phones, better content coming out… this has been also evident with how fast our tiny Y-Films YouTube channel has hit 50 million views in just nine months!

The thing is… the medium allows and mandates content that you don’t get/can’t get anywhere else – so there’s a chance to experiment in form, treatment, characters, storytelling – which is bound to excite not just creators and consumers but, also the celebrities who get to feature in it… Case in point a show like ‘Ladies Room’ – a trippy story of two of the coolest girls across six bathrooms.

Most importantly, it’s a chance to reinvent, showcase a new side of your talent/personality that you may not have got a chance to showcase before… look at the supremely talented and gorgeous Nimrat Kaur [who’ve we’ve typically seen in a ‘Lunchbox’ and ‘Airlift’ as a mom/ housewife – but is pitched as a young, cool girl in Love Shots], similarly the brilliant Tahir Raj Bhasin [seen as a negative lead in ‘Mardaani’ last year – but now as a romantic lead in our Love Shots]

This can be also a trigger to tap into a fresh fan base that resides on the Internet [look at Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Farida Jalal in Love Shots!], stay on the radar between feature film releases, which may have a longer lead times/gaps – this could also lead to fresh offers for ndorsements/advertising/ other films – which we’ve experienced with some of our stars

And, additionally it could also translate into some incremental money – there are some of the bigger talent who are also clocking sizeable money for leveraging their social media for brands]… so when a Ranveer Singh tweets or shares something on his personal FB page for a brand association it’s worth a lot of money given the value and incremental reach he delivers to a focused interested and excited audience. We’ve done this for a benchmark marketing campaign called ‘My Name is Ranveer Ching’ where his Twitter handle changed to Ranveer Ching!

How do you see it grow into something bigger than what it is right now?
Well, as we know the business model on the web is still a bit shaky. Once serious monetisation kicks in, it will grow into something even bigger. We all have the Netflix example, which is driven entirely by subscriptions overseas.

That’s when bigger punts, investments will go into content, talent and more. Fortunately at Y-Films we’ve been able to get some very serious advertising/ sponsorship/ brand partnerships without exception across each and every content unit we’ve pushed out and this includes some of the most premium recognizable brands in the country – be it Unilever, Airtel, Mia by Tanishq, the United Nations, Standard Chartered Bank, Aviva, the Mindshare team, Lowe Lintas or more.

New acting talent is unique, original on the internet and fresh, too for the audience. Bollywood celebs taking over – how will this impact the new talent? And how will it impact your channel?

Given the sheer width and depth of the Internet, Bollywood celebrities coming in will only help grow the medium further. It won’t hamper fresh talent. This could translate into a very powerful symbiotic relationship where the bigger celebrities could collaborate with fresh talent to create something new, special, original, unique. And the fresh talent could gain sizeable reach from such partnerships.

We’ve tried to do that across all we’ve done. So see a fab new writer-director like Vikram Gupta and a debutante actor like Gaurav Pandey in ‘Man’s World’ padded with 22 massive star cameos. Or a fresh new actress like Angira Dhar with some of the most seasoned actors from films/theatre like Ali Fazal, Rajat Kapoor, Shernaz Patel, Gajraj Rao, Ayesha Raza, Neil Bhoopalam in ‘Bang Baaja Baaraat’ or a fantastic director like Ashima Chibber who did ‘Mere Dad Ki Maruti’ for us directing two fantastic fresh actresses like Saba Azad and Shreya Dhanwanthary.

One Digital Entertainment

Why do you think Bollywood celebrities are taking to the web. Do you see it grow into something bigger than what it is right now?

There is a large set of audience we are dealing with today who does not know about the life before internet. They want to be connected every time with everything including their entertainment. Also they need to be constantly engaged, as with the crazy amount of accessible information, there is always something taking their attention away.

Content creators, be it traditional TV broadcasters or Bollywood celebrities have started to realise the potential on the web and they are working towards capturing this audience by coming up with innovative ideas that appeals to this generation.

Web opens up a lot of engagement and revenue opportunities for celebs that mainstream mediums wouldn't offer otherwise. In the longer run we see a majority of today's celebrities integrating themselves seamlessly with various digital platforms and taking to uploading exclusive content there that's bound to widen their fan base, increase their engagement quotient and open up brand opportunities.

New acting talent is unique, original on the internet and fresh. In your opinion, what impact with Bollywood celebs have on the new bunch?
Recognition of talent on the Internet, as we've observed over the years, works completely independent of that on traditional media outlets. You might be the biggest film or TV superstar the world has known, but if you're not taking extra efforts to engage with your online audience in a genuine way that portrays who you really are, you're not an Internet superstar no matter your talent.

Bollywood stars taking over and sidelining web-exclusive talent might initially draw a lot of media attention since their existing fan base is going to talk about it, but if their efforts to engage with their audience aren't innovative and consistent, they're not really setting themselves up for the big online game.

Do you have any plans to nurture this trend any further?
Our plans are quite straightforward - to find as much good talent as we can and bring it to the web in unique and innovative formats to entertain people of all kinds from all corners of the country. That includes Bollywood and Internet celebrities both.

We are currently working with a couple of Bollywood stars and in talks with many others to set up dedicated destinations and create original and engaging content. Our goal, in a nutshell, is to constantly keep an eye out for talent everywhere, brainstorm content ideas and create a structure to their programming that's going to help them engage with a dedicated and ever-growing fan base on the Internet.

The Viral Fever (TVF)
What’s your take on A-list Bollywood celebrities taking to the web?
A-list celebrities are coming to the web because here is where good content, which reached out to a wide audience is being made. Shah Rukh Khan does scores of interviews for promoting his movie but what goes viral is a ‘Bhag Jeetu Bhag’ or a ‘Barely Speaking With Arnub’ because it has a massively popular digital face like Jeety or Bisso and the content is made by someone whose aim is to bring to the masses only the best.

New acting talent is unique, original on the internet and fresh, too for the audience. Bollywood celebs taking over – how will this impact the new talent? And how will it impact the channel?
It will in no way impact the channel. Our actors already have a loyal following and when people come to our platform to watch something it's to see Jitu, Nidhi, Sumeet. Akanksha, Naveen and other because they are fine actors and people love to watch them.

What’re TVF plans towards nurturing this trend?
We will keep making relatable content for everyone and that's our aim, that's all.

By: By: Asra Ghouse