On a leading podcast, Palki Sharma (ex-WION, now FirstPost), a leading face of the new age digital indian media, claimed that over 80% of other viewers of indian infostories and news were men. Her next question was more pressing, and rightly so, coming from a lady who loved journalism so much, "Please help me understand what the women of India are watching?"
This question is neither new nor unsolved. The television media at the dawn of the millennium had a similar question for itself. As TVs had penetrated homes, broadcasters had realised that a massive half of the population was simply missing out form the audience. The answer to it came from Ekta Kapoor, who revolutionised the soap opera scene in India. When the "serials", as they were referred to, took over, it brought the broadcasters a new mass of viewers, neatly segmented as the daytime audience and evening shows. This move not only altered the course of media, but also advertising and consumer behaviour. For years, large FMCGs were able to sway their prime customers, the homemakers, through ads and campaigns placed with the soaps.
What Palki Sharma was seeking was the rebirth of this concept for the mobile world. India's mobile penetration with the advent of Jio has been discussed far and wide. This was the time that saw creators like Bhuvan Bam and Ashish Chanchlani rise to prominence. Then came along the daily vlogs. Today, both these formats have saturated, and the content method is overused. Podcasts are a recent phenomenon, but they seem to be saturating, too. The industry is in dire need of an innovation.
A case for innovation can surely be made with Samay Raina, comedian and chess enthusiast, who rose to the limelight during the pandemic, ushering a chess revolution in India. However, Samay is uncalculative, risky and unfiltered. When his idea of India's Got Talent came into fruition, it was a supernova, quickly establishing him in the YT scene. But the reckoning came swifter, within 7 episodes, it was broiled in enough controversies to die out in a blast. The controversy was as grand as the show.
A case for the opposite is with Farah Khan, the famed Bollywood personality. Her channel is the indian fusion of responsible paparazzi, vlogging, cooking and honour. A cocktail of stuff that has surely worked with the indian audience. While the content might not be ultra innovative, her delivery is perfected, posh enough to woo the elite and humble enough to please the masses. Her rise has been steadier than Samay's, and looks brighter as of now. Perhaps, and eligible answer to that of Palki's paheli.