Platfom claims to prioritize organic growth instead of paid algorithms.
India’s telecom provider Reliance Jio has partnered with Rolling Stone India and Creativeland Asia to launch a short video app called Platfom. The app has started onboarding talent on the beta version and is expected to go fully live early next year.
“The app is poised to be the ultimate destination for star entertainers, with an ecosystem built for organic growth and steady monetization. It is tapped to be the social home for singers, musicians, actors, comedians, dancers, fashion designers and creators at large,” Rolling Stone, a music and pop culture site, said in a blog.
Initially, the app is opened to 100 founding members who will be the first to preview new features and further can invite other artists to join the platform. They will get golden check marks, while other creators will be verified via silver, blue and red check marks based on their fanbase growth and content engagement, and not based on paid promotions. Platfom will be later open to creators across a range of categories as well as the general public.
Fans and brands can interact and collaborate with the artists directly on the app, which is claimed to prioritize organic growth instead of paid algorithms. Additionally, creators will be featured in the Rolling Stone India digital editorials. They will also get premium verification and could monetize their skills via in-app bookings.
“Platfom is all set to disrupt short-form social media for entertainers and creators. We are excited to move the creator economy needle from “watch me” to “book me”. It has several intelligent monetization features coming soon to help entertainers and creators monetize their skills and talent like never before,” said Sajan Raj Kurup, Platfom founder and Creativeland Asia Group founder and chairman.
India is the world’s second-largest and fastest-growing internet market. According to reports, users of short-video apps in India are expected to grow from 200 million in 2021 to over 650 million by 2025. Monetization opportunity through these apps is expected to range between $12 billion to $19 billion by the end of this decade.
After the government banned Bytedance-owned TikTok in 2020, several homegrown apps like Josh, Moj, MXTakaTak, etc have seen a growth in their user base. In such a scenario, a deep-pocket conglomerate like Reliance entering the short-video market could give stiff competition to Meta’s Instagram and Facebook reels.
