The growing popularity of short-video platforms (SVP) like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Moj/MX TakaTak, and Josh has caught the attention of media planners and brands. The short-video platforms have the potential to garner advertising revenue of Rs 600 crore to Rs 800 crore in the next two years, say media experts.

"In 2022, digital is forecasted to overtake TV with Rs 48,603 crore being spent at a CAGR of 15% (GroupM TYNY). Redseer Consulting’s report pegs SVP at 1% of these digital spends. Considering the scale of the user base available now, the connect with tier 1 & 2 cities and youth as well as the time spent, we can expect SVP to easily grow at 2-3 times the digital CAGR. This would peg the advertising marketing opportunity anywhere between Rs 600 and Rs 800 crore in next two years," MediaCom Chief Product Officer Averill Sequeira told e4m.

The Indian short-video platforms are staring at a monetisation opportunity of $19 billion by 2030, as per a recent report by consulting firm RedSeer. The report also adds that the short-video platforms are expected to double their monthly active user base to 600 million by 2025.

As far as the allocation of ad dollars is concerned, Sequeira noted that a natural demarcation has emerged between the more metro-centric and premium Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts and home-grown platforms like Moj. "This has to do with the quality of creators, production values, and the presence of international celebs and artists. In the near future, brands looking for more premium, niche audiences will prefer to be on IG and brands looking for massier connect, regional associations will prefer the home-grown partners," he added.

ShareChat & Moj Chief Revenue Officer Udit Sharma noted that the merger between Moj and MX TakaTak, which has now been rebranded as Moj Lite+, has led to the creation of the biggest short-video content platform in the country.

"Moj and Takatak (now Moj Lite+) combined have close to 300 million MAUs, with close to 6 billion views per day and over 3 million content pieces being created daily on the platform. The merger of two of the foremost short video platforms has enabled faster and wider growth owing to the synergies between both platforms in terms of content format and target audience. Housing a diverse and extensive creator community across regions, the platform has emerged as the largest homegrown short video content platform," he said.

Amplifi - Dentsu India Chief Investment Officer Sujata Dwibedy said that the media spends within the short-video space are shared primarily among Instagram Reels, Moj/ShareChat/TakaTak, and Josh. She added that YouTube Shorts, though big in size, has not started monetising the platform. She reckons that Reels and Shorts will have an advantage over other platforms due to the fact that Google and Meta apps have partnerships with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

"It (ad dollars) is skewed towards Instagram, thanks to the sheer size of Meta! Shorts is quite a late entrant, hence would take another year or so to pick up. The second would be Moj/Sharechat/TakaTak and Josh; all neck to neck. The key reason why Reels and Shorts would be able to consolidate better would also be because of the smartphone increase, inbuilt YouTube and Meta apps, influencers on existing platforms, etc... The others can ramp up because of their localised presence and deeper connect with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities!" she added.

Cheil India Chief Growth Officer Kumar Awanish believes that Instagram reels will garner maximum ad dollars as YouTube has not started monetising Shorts but ads sold on YouTube are now being served on Shorts. "Together the duo should acquire more than 75% of the share followed by MX TakaTak & Josh with 15% to 18% leaving 7% to 10% opportunity for others," he said.

Xapads Media GM - Sales Anuj Yadav said there is a lot of growth potential in the short-video segment while adding that Instagram is the leading short-video platform in terms of MAUs/DAUs, time spent, and even monetisation. He stated that homegrown platforms like Josh, Moj, and Takatak have shown a sharp increase in user growth in the past year because they provide creators the opportunity to monetise their content and enable brands to tap into the right audiences.

"The content of such apps deliver the message in a crisp and short form via which users tend to spend more time on them in search of more engaging content. That’s why it provides brands with another platform to spend money on. India being a vastly populated and culturally diversified nation and also a home of such evolving apps gives marketers an opportunity to come and showcase their ads best suited to users’ needs. As many global brands are looking to enter the Indian market, the cost-effective SVPs will attract them to spend on promotion to position themselves in the Indian market. Thus we can clearly see the spending is going to shift to homegrown apps," he explained.