Online Boom

Star vision and contribution

The vision of a company defines the path it takes and how successful it becomes. HRX- a lifestyle and fitness brand started by Hrithik Roshan in collaboration with Myntra.com, is more than a clothing line. Gautam Kotamraju, CCO of Myntra.com mentions, “We started HRX along with Hrithik with a vision he had. His team which includes Exceed and The Wild East Group, had already created the idea, so my team at Myntra discussed the way forward and aggressively marketed the products.” HRX has two segments: the Easy Active for active sports and adventure enthusiasts and the Extreme Casual line for casual wear.
A star’s involvement is key to any online venture that they undertake, as their interactivity with the end users as well as their inputs for the brand itself actually helps in making it successful. For instance, Roshan has always been involved with the minutest details of HRX. Kotamraju says, “Although Hrithik was going through a bad patch, he was always present whenever we called him for a meeting. He has always been fundamentally involved in everything we discussed or designed. He also loves the feedback he receives from his online fan base, asking us to incorporate the changes. The Myntra Fashion Week, 2014 also saw Hrithik showcasing the new, colourful and stylish mix of the brand that we had created together.”
Shilpa Shetty too, started an online venture, Grouphomebuyers.com which is a real estate e-commerce venture. She saw the potential of an online real estate portal where people could view and buy luxurious but affordable homes on the go. As Hem Tejuja, MD of Grouphomebuyers.com mentions, “We basically provide three services : sell properties online after getting discounts from approaching builders; provide furniture and home fittings under the name of Groupco Developers and build buildings and townships, that we sell through our site. Shilpa is involved in planning and developing the website, while I look after the operations. She is always there to promote the venture on social media platforms and at events.”
On the digital front, Hungama has been one of the leading companies for digital entertainment content, be it videos or music. Yo Yo Honey Singh and T-Series recently collaborated with the company for exclusively launching the Kalakaar music album on the Hungama App and web portal. As Siddhartha Roy, CEO of Hungama.com mentions, “We have worked closely with Yo Yo Honey Singh for a long time and when Singh and T-Series launched the Desi Kalakaar album, we digitally marketed their music. As Yo Yo hadn’t given a solo since a long time, the album created by them became a hit. We aim to promote all the songs across networks and telecoms mainly the online portal and our app. The music album was exclusively launched through Hungama.com and Yo Yo was actively involved in our campaign. He has a huge social media following and was constantly tweeting about it, posting on other social medias. He was also present at all the events, interacting with people and media, which in a way gave a boost to the venture.”
#fame is another digital content producer and distributor. Many celebrities such as Milind Soman, Harsha Bhogle, Sonali Daini had earlier collaborated with the company to create digital video content and communities. Now, #fame has struck a partnership with CAA Kwan which has a huge roster of celebrities including Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Shraddha Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez and Yo Yo Honey Singh to name a few. As Saket Saurabh, CEO of #fame mentions, “Our strength lies in our ability to produce great quality of digital content.Today, digital videos are being consumed at a high rate through Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp or We Chat and so on. So we are going to create specialised videos for each celebrity and distribute them across digital platforms.” Maintaining that celeb involvement is the key, Saurabh points, “Celebrities are always involved in the digital content that we produce. The channel is their voice and they will be intimately involved each time.”
Culture Machine is also a digital content producer and distributor. The company has seen many celebrities collaborating with them; Neha Kakkar and Aditya Narayan being the latest additions. Sameer Pitalwalla, CEO and co-founder, Culture Machine elaborates, “At Culture Machine, we help actors set up and grow their YouTube presence by combining their talent with our best in class content expertise and technical backbone to create unique videos and upload it on their channels. We have been privileged to work with Bollywood personalities of the likes of Neha Kakkar and Aditya Narayan on their YouTube channels. Both Neha and Aditya were keen to work with us to grow their core fan base on YouTube and we were more than happy to contribute to that vision. We use a whole array of platform specific analytics and insights to grow our creators channels.” The collaboration together has created content such as a Mother’s day song sung by her and also a selfie video of her singing Manali trance.
But without star association, Pitalwalla feels success is low. “Personal connect with our talent is crucial for us to nurture and grow their channels. This synergy, coupled with an in-depth understanding of YouTube as a platform, allows us to target and scale the content our talent produces with us, to the widest and most relevant audience. We have always involved Neha and Aditya at every step, from planning, programming, producing to distributing and marketing the content. Their input and involvement is necessary,” opines Pitalwalla.

Raking in the moolah

Success is gauged by the revenue generated and the number of hits or likes that a venture gets. But, what makes a brand successful is it’s USP. The ideas or the unique things that the brand or association incorporates to make it unique.
The brand’s belief is the key factor for its success. Kotamraju feels, “Hrithik has been the key factor to our success. He and his team’s belief and ideas along with our e-commerce strength has helped us achieve success. Myntra has gone out of its way and invested more time in HRX and we now bear the fruit of that investment. The feedback that Hrithik gives is also great and we use it to improve the brand and make it better.”
The success of Grouphomebuyers.com can be attributed to the lacunae that they filled in the property market. “At the time we started it, there was a need for a portal where you could view properties online, get quotes and book your dream home. So, we filled the gap that was created between the developers and end-users,” mentions Tejuja.
The success of a venture also depends on the proper packaging and presentation of the content. Yo Yo Honey Singh’s album launch and its subsequent success online was successful because of proper planning and packaging. “The song was a huge hit and it was trending across the world, since Singh had not released a single since Blue Eyes. Desi Kalakaar thus filled the void, especially with fans eagerly waiting for a track from him. Also, the song was shot on a large scale, just like a movie. It was created like a short film and this packaging was unique which added to the song’s success. Since we were aware of the concept, we also decided to have an in-song placement of the Hungama App and planned the whole exclusive launch, which benefitted all,” explains Roy.
Another rapidly growing domain are the digital videos. The demand for digital content and emerging new talent has led to the success of #fame and the celebrities associated with them. “Celebrities who were taking to Facebook and Twitter, have now realised the power of digital video and building up their brand. Digital video content has been growing rapidly in India. With the introduction of 4G internet option and mobiles becoming cheaper, digital video is at a crucial point. Mobile phones are driving the consumption of digital content. While, earlier content shown on TV was uploaded on the digital platform, today, we are developing content and producing it. An added advantage of digitisation is the direct connect with the consumer. We have an internal talent discovery process, a crowd sourcing platform called Blogmint and a talent management program that we run to discover emerging talents which helps us get more interesting content.” points out Saurabh.
Pitalwalla adds, “The reason Culture Machine and the stars associated with it are successful is due to the fact that we stratergise everything effectively. A key part of our strategy is facilitating mutually beneficial and synergistic collaborations with other creators, both in our network and outside of it. Our unrelenting focus on analytics and current content formats help us guide our talent effectively. This in turn, helps our talent create the kind of content that really leverages the inherent strength of YouTube as a platform.”

Money structure

Revenue is necessary for the survival and functioning of any brand, helping it to develop its content further. Kotumraju explains, “We work on a general licensing revenue model for HRX. I cannot talk about figures, but the brand has just completed one year and has earned a neat profit that goes into double digits, thus signifying the success of the brand.”
Talking about the intricacies of working out the revenue model, Tejuja explains, “Basically, the revenue model is transaction based and we also get ad revenue from builders who put up their ads on the site. We are projected to generate a revenue of around four crore this year through the website and from next year onwards, with the construction business, we aim to generate a revenue of around Rs. 70 crore. While the growth of the company has been around 300 per cent on a yearly basis, the revenue sharing is 50:50 between me and Shilpa.”
Roy adds, “The revenue model was simple; we were distributing the song, so there was a paid model in operation and also an app-supported model. The Hungama community has also grown around 200-300 per cent in the past few years through such associations.”
With #fame, Saurabh reveals that, “The revenue model that we employ is generally ad-driven. The end-user revenue model has not picked up in India, so we also earn through distribution and syndication revenue. Our weekly views and watch minutes have grown to 200 per cent and we are on track to reach 100 million watch minutes.”
Similar to #fame, Culture Machine also generates revenue through various sources. “Revenue is generated primarily through advertising, while our additional revenue is generated by Brand Solutions, YouTube ad-revenue and Syndications. For Aditya, the per cent increase in subscription has been over 300 per cent and for Neha, the per cent increase in subscription has been over 1000 per cent,” adds Pitalwalla.
With more celebrities joining the brandwagon, the market for online portals and digital platforms seem to be growing by leaps and bounds. The latest to launch their online venture are Bipasha Basu, Malaika Arora Khan and Suzanne Khan under The Label Corp. That the various online initiatives will be able to meet with success only time will tell. But, nobody can deny the clout that star power holds.

Celeb Mantras

Hrithik Roshan tied up with Myntra.com to launch HRX, an exclusive lifestyle and fitness brand.

Shilpa Shetty’s Grouphomebuyers.com provides an opportunity to purchase luxurious and affordable property online.

T-Series and Yo Yo Honey Singh’s collaboration with Hungama.com for  exclusive launch of Desi Kalakaar created a buzz.

Culture Machine and singer Neha Kakkar tuned in to create exclusive content for her channel on YouTube.

#fame along with Milind Soman and other celebrities creates digital content for promoting themselves.

karan.shah@expressindia.com