Chingari app understands the needs of Bharat: Sumit Ghosh

Founded by two Bengaluru-based programmers – Sumit Ghosh and Biswatma Nayak – with the mission to disrupt the Indian App community and providing a robust platform to consumers for entertainment, Chingari was launched in Google Play Store in November 2018. Chingari App – India ka apna aap is a short video sharing platform owned by Tech4Billion Media. Through this app, users can create and upload videos in more than 20 multiple languages, including English and Hindi. In this app, users get the option to select a song, lip-sync, dance, voice-over to movie scenes, comic dialogues, and create a creative video to a selection of that song. The app also has in-built filters which create visual effects of videos.

Available in over 10 regional languages in India, Chingari’s downloads crossed over 25 million on July 21, 2020. The application has been widely praised and has gained popularity, especially in India, after the Indian Government announced a blanket ban on TikTok, amongst other Chinese apps, as a consequence of its Galwan Valley border tensions with China.

Due to the sudden spike in the number of users, Chingari and its servers initially reported a few crashes. However, soon an updated version of the app 2.3.9 was released with a better user interface and better features. Since then, its users have steadily increased in number.

In 2020, Chingari was rated as one of Google Play’s best entertainment applications, with a 4.1-star rating.  As of August 2020, Chingari is available in over 50 countries and in over 10 languages. The app was re-branded and redesigned in June 2020. The mobile application has become India's #1 Social Networking App and the most popular short video sharing application by August 2020. It has emerged as India ka Apna Naya TV in multiple cities and locations, including Tier 1 cities of India such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and large parts of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Sumit Ghosh, CEO and Co-Founder, Chingari, started his entrepreneurial career with IT services company Globussoft and scaled it to Rs 60 crore annual revenues. His second venture, Socioboard, was into building automation products in digital marketing space, the Socioboard product suite, which includes the software, PowerAdSpy, has ARR of $2 million. Ghosh is a master of user acquisition, product and growth. He is leading the Chingari team to be the next big localised mobile entertainment platform in India.

In conversation with Adgully, Sumit Ghosh, CEO & Co-founder, Chingari App, speaks about how has Vocal for Local has powered the app, advertiser interest, and empowering content creators across the country.

How has Chingari benefited from TikTok’s exit from the Indian market?

The exit of TikTok from the Indian market created a void, which gives the Indian tech-firms an opportunity to boost home-grown apps and fill that space. We grabbed this opportunity and have seen an overwhelming response from the Indian users as they started opting for homegrown alternatives. It was a lifetime opportunity for us, and we are happy that we made it through, and people are loving our app.

How has the AtmaNirbhar movement started by PM Narendra Modi helped you?

The AtmaNirbhar Movement played an important role in creating a conducive environment for Chingari. It has motivated us to come up with the best and given space for homegrown apps to flourish. This initiative taken by our respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi really worked for all homegrown apps, and we are also very thankful to him for this opportunity.

What has the advertisers’ interest been like for your platform?

It has been amazing. A lot of advertisers are showing interest in our app and many already started advertising their products by posting content on Chingari.

What kind of content is consumed on your platform? Is the content being censored?

Chingari provides content across various categories such as entertainment, comedy, devotional, music, lip syncs, fashion, etc., so that users can create and consume content as per their interest. Yes, the content is censored. We have a separate content moderation team that manually filters the content so that people of all age groups can have accounts on Chingari. Our system’s algorithms are designed to ensure that any objectionable content does not get viral and is removed immediately.

What has been your marketing strategy during these times?

Well, there is no such marketing strategy that we are following. We continuously and tirelessly work to make our app best in everything and we believe that if the product is good, it does not need much marketing. However, if you call it a strategy then, we are giving content creators the opportunity to monetise their content and are also looking forward to providing the revenue share to composers for the songs that become popular on the app.

Since there are multiple upcoming short video apps, how are you differentiating from them and getting more followers for your platform?

Generally, video creation apps allow users to create and upload short videos on the app. But Chingari understands the needs of Bharat, that is, entertainment, news and games and the app has all three, setting itself apart from the other short video applications. Chingari is an all-in-one app and that is what attracts people to give it a try.

How is Chingari providing opportunities to content creators to earn their livelihood?

Apart from partnerships, Chingari provides earning opportunities to its users by paying them based on the virality of the video. For each video a user shares on the app, the content creator gets points per view, and these points can be encashed later through partner UPI platforms. This will help content creators to use their talent and achieve financial independence.

What are you doing to get more traction from the regional space?

Chingari is a platform available in more than 10 languages, so that language should not be a barrier and people can enjoy curated feeds in their own language. 

How is Chingari as a platform empowering people?

Chingari gives people the opportunity as a platform to showcase their innate talent to world. This is nothing but empowering them to do what they like doing.