Tamseel Hussain – Founder and CEO, Pluc.tv

Pluc.tv is a mobile-first start-to-finish creator economy platform that provides creators with all the tools they need to produce, market and monetize content. This includes everything from 24×7 production support to access to like-minded creators and experts for collaborations and earning opportunities enabling them to build a community of their own. The platform also offers brands a unique opportunity to find unheard-of creators, sponsor them or their shows and get premium content from anywhere in the country produced at a record-breaking speed. Tamseel Hussain, Founder and CEO, Pluc.tv, shares more about this platform and how it is contributing to the creator economy, in a chit-chat with Ramesh Kumar Raja. Excerpts:

How has the journey been so far for Pluc. TV and how smartphone-friendly is this platform? I spent 15 years building online communities for tech platforms, nonprofits and small businesses. Most of my works were around bridging inequalities

and connecting people who lead different lifestyles, to create positive change. In 2017, smartphones were rapidly being adopted by many users. People were getting exposed to social media and engaging with content for the first time, giving room to new behaviours. While social media influencers were on a rise and were becoming popular so was the gap between people who have amazing stories but fewer resources to tell them.

I was at a landfill training waste-pickers on how to tell stories using their phones along with a mainstream media house, a non-profit, and a social media platform when the idea clicked. Building a platform for premium content that empowered potential, mid and nano-level creators to tell amazing stories in various formats. the evolution of people telling amazing stories and building communities gave rise to what we call now the ‘creator economy’. It’s been an incredible

journey, full of learnings, wins for me as an individual and as a founder – such is the ‘tadka’ of fate.

Mobile-first was the mantra when we started the design process for our web platform, which enabled us to provide a seamless experience for our users on various devices. Watching videos on the Pluc.tv platform is 100% hassle free, while also allowing users to submit their content via various devices and collaborating with an army of creators.

We are currently in the process of developing our native app for simplifying and refining this process further.

In our bootstrapped journey, we are 30000+ creators strong now, more than 100k have taken our creator and storytelling courses. Last year, two of our shows were awarded the south asia Digital Media award by the World association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the mbillionth award for ‘government & Citizen Engagement’, a leading platform to recognize excellence in mobile innovations, applications, and content services for the

public good in south asia, organized by the Digital Empowerment Foundation and the World summit award. With so many meaningful stories yet to be told, we continue to innovate our creator and storytelling tools.

What are the services Pluc.tv offers and what differentiates it from others? Pluc.tv is a startto-finish creator economy platform that provides creators with all the tools they need to produce, market, and monetize content. this includes everything from 24×7 production support to access to like-minded creators and experts for collaborations and earning opportunities enabling them to build a community of their own.

so many people in India have amazing stories to share but lack the resources to tell them and that’s what we’re changing. this also offers brands a unique opportunity to find unheard-of creators, sponsor them or their shows and get premium content from anywhere in the country produced at a record-breaking speed.

We’re disrupting and re-balancing the current ‘creator’ ecosystem, by spotlighting and supporting new talent in an arena held hostage by top creators while delivering value for money for both creators and businesses.

How has Pluc.tv been empowering content creators? How do incentivizing content creators as a strategy for platforms lead to growth? In the world today, the attention economy is meeting the creator economy, where success is increasingly concentrated among a smaller number of creators, what happens to the rest of the 99%.

We enable anyone with a mobile phone to enter the creator economy with the right training and courses to create content that brings about opportunities for them – to market and monetize their content. We enable creators to break out of an algorithmdriven loop and experiment with the kind of content they want to do. Our virtual studio and 24*7 production support also makes the process of creation much faster for these creators.

We strongly believe a platform flourishes when it provides an opportunity to every user to grow and we’ve seen our creators build their own communities, and survive on the money earned via Pluc.tv during the pandemic. We’ve built a loyal base of procreators who earn from the platform and keep recommending more creators to join. In the end, it’s really about how powerful your story is and the impact it creates. some stories change behaviors and

some stories build trends.

“Mobile-first was the mantra when we started the design process for our web platform, which enabled us to provide a seamless experience for our users on various devices. Watching videos on the Pluc.tv platform is 100% hassle free, while also allowing users to submit their content via various devices and collaborating with an army of creators”

How does Pluc.tv help content creators in generating revenue? Tell us about that and how does that model work? Creators register with Pluc.tv to learn, collaborate and tell unique stories. they can start their own show, explore paid gigs listed on our website, and also work with other creators sitting in any part of the country. the more time creators spend with us, the more opportunities – we train and enable them to start their own courses, find new gigs etc, and our pro-creators get paid for every story they do on the platform.

How large is the creator economy in India? And what are the opportunities in this space? In India, the influencer market is estimated at $ 75-150 million a year – which only forms a part of the creator economy. there are so many more angles like gaming creators, experts like doctors and teachers who are now creating content, and more people who are entering this ecosystem. India has an ancient history of storytelling which comes in all forms – dance, art, writing, culture to name a few.

there’s a huge opportunity in the space to help creators become platformindependent. subscriptions, fan-funding and virtual gifting are opening up new monetization options.

Co-creation of content between different creators and their fans is going to be instrumental. Will Netflix-like shows come to you from your next-door creators? We can be a leader globally when it comes to the creator economy, just because of the simple fact that we are more than

500 million mobile phone users and have a huge and talented young population.

In the last few years, there has been a surge in creator-led content. How has this impacted the creator economy? More creator-led content means more opportunity. Now, lifestyle and tech are not the only genres that are popular, people are making content on finance, health, comedy, gaming and more topics which have led to opportunities for brands and more acceptance of the creator economy.

It’s not only about the 1% of top influencers, but the game has also changed and mid-level and nano creators are rising fast.

What changes have you observed in the consumption pattern of audiences when engaging with creator-led content? One thing is clear – premium content stands the test of time on the internet. From just watching content on certain topics to watching content created by their favorite creators, consumer behaviors have definitely seen a shift.

Consumers connect better with content that is creator-led – it is more relatable for them, a more personal connection. they wait for the next episode, series, and video that their creator is about to upload. they want to buy products that would help them become better creators.

How can a creator get the most out of their audience? How does somebody judge whether your platform is huge enough for them to go independent via other services? We are living in a time where there are so many ways a single piece of content can be produced and distributed.

For the premium content that our creators create with us or upload on the platform, we make sure we have amazing multi-channel partnerships (with various social media apps and publications) so that these content pieces reach the right communities.

We always believe that creators shouldn’t be dependent on views or algorithms of a particular platform to earn a living - every premium story deserves good reach and monetisation. Our platform helps to solve that, among various other benefits of learning and collaboration - that’s why our creators keep coming back to us!

“We always believe that creators shouldn’t be dependent on views or algorithms of a particular platform to earn a living - every premium story deserves good reach and monetisation. Our platform helps to solve that, among various other benefits of learning and collaboration - that’s why our creators keep coming back to us”

You work closely with creators from different backgrounds. Are there any common themes or traits that come to mind that makes a creator successful? Consistency and authenticity are two traits that will remain evergreen for creators. trends and new formats will continue to evolve, but what’s yours cannot be executed the way you do it by anyone else.

We’ve always seen successful creators have authenticity in their stories, and content, they shy away from pretending. Many of them create content with a certain niche or about certain topics they are really passionate about. some of these creators also end up collaborating and forming high-impact communities that also have great engagement. As the creative economy grows, how will the role of platforms like Pluc.tv, Patreon, and others develop over the next 10 years? If the first 10 years were creator discovery focused, the next 10 years are going to be focused on monetization. How does every creator monetize from quality content without being anxious or burnt out from the cycle of discovery or gaining followers? that’s where we are headed and Pluc.tv has already started showing results in this direction. Platforms like ours are needed to help creators avoid burn-out, algorithm pressure, and gain financial independence. the creator economy trend globally is pointing towards more creators turning into business owners, while investors and more consumers want to see their favourite creators succeed. ■