From the outside looking in, influencers—the likes of Jake Paul or, closer to home, Kusha Kapila—seem to be living the dream. Thronged by fans, showered with freebies, and all to just look good on camera. If only it were that simple.
Becoming an influencer—and then staying one—is a grind; a hamster wheel of trend-surfing, ideating, shooting, re-shooting, editing, and finally tracking audience reactions once a video finally goes live. And even when you've done everything right, producing content like clockwork, platforms could change their algorithms and leave you playing catch up all over again.
Over the last few years, India has seen an explosion of influencers as the number of content platforms has mushroomed. After TikTok laid the groundwork, introducing a whole generation to the potential of these platforms, its ban created a vacuum that has since been filled by the likes of MX TakaTak, Roposo, Moj, Instagram Reels, etc. And while this has given influencers more avenues to gain a following, it has also increased their workload. Gone are when one could be popular on a single platform and consider that success. Like I said, it's a hamster wheel.
In our today's forum story, we present an insight into the lives of India's influencers through a survey of over some hundreds of them. Through it, as well as through conversations with talent agencies, influencers, and brands, they touch on aspects such as earning potential, the time and resources that go into these short videos, and the support systems that have developed to support (or simply monetise) these creators. It's an interesting read to round off the weekend