Armed with nothing but a smartphone and pocket-friendly data plans, TikTok users made it big and earned huge money by posting 15-second videos of varying content online. Post TikTok ban, it appeared that their means of livelihood would come to a halt.
However, just 2 days into the ban, Chingari, India’s most popular alternative to TikTok emerged. With over 1.1 crore downloads, the homegrown app stood out for its fresh user interface including many other features. Chingari app allows a user to connect with new users and viewers by sharing its content. Its features also include access to trendy and entertainment news, quotes, status videos for WhatsApp, and many more.
Its revenue model also differs from that of the erstwhile available Chinese app. In TikTok, content creatorâs material would be monetized, whereas Chingari’s payments are based on the views a video gets. This gives the power back to the user than ad agencies, like Youtube, does for more enterprise/globally focused creators based on how viral a video becomes. This works because for each video uploaded by a user on the Chingari app, the accumulated points set against views can be redeemed for money.
At a time of border conflicts and global economic downswing and post TikTok ban, the co-founder’s upbeat voice in terms of getting capital and benefiting Indian content creators is encouraging. On arranging funds for Chingari, Chief Product Officer, Sumit Ghosh, says,
“No Chinese money, no Chinese companies’ money âĤ no Chinese direct or indirect money in Chingari ever. Not now, not ever,” he said, adding, “It will be the global (venture capitals), operating out of U.S. or U.K. â there’s a lot of global money available so definitely, no Chinese money“.
Currently, the app is preparing to close a $10 million Series, a funding round to meet the requirements for the manifold growth in downloads post TikTok ban. In a interview with IANS and elaborating in a statement, co-founder Biswatma Nayak said,
“Since the word spread that Indians now have a homegrown and more entertaining alternative to TikTok, we have been recording traffic beyond expectations on our app.â
With more and more users diverting to Chingari, the two masterminds are working round the clock to improve the user experience of the app. They are also having crucial discussions to get good investor(s) on board so as to scale up their free-of-cost social platform.
Usually, Indian applications have had to compete hard with established foreign giants to make an impact across different sectors. With Chingari, this is set to change as content is driven successfully by homegrown creators already used to such apps, especially in the era post TikTok ban. Both parties, participants, and monetizing platforms can make a windfall given our users growing thirst for short videos.
