Increased usage of music and AR in Reels to fuel the growth of creator economy in 2023: Paras Sharma of Meta

The increased adaptation of music and augmented reality in Reels and diversity in genres of content creations will be acting as a buoyant force for the growth of the creator economy in 2023, according to Paras Sharma, Director, Content and Community Partnerships, Meta. 

He said, “The usage of music has evolved and it continues to empower the Reels. We also enable the artists to come and create original music for the reels. Music artists are now getting discovered on Reels. This shows the power of reels and creators.” 

Earlier in May this year, Instagram announced the launch of the ‘One Minute Music’ initiative. As part of the initiative, artists can launch original music and music videos through reels on Instagram. 

He told BestMediaInfo.com that close to 35% of Reels created in India are using AR right now. “Therefore, we are building more and more such opportunities along with the developers to engage with the creators.” 

He further said, “We don’t just rely on the popular content to come on the users’ feeds. Instead, we ensure we curate different subgenres of content and get it discovered by our users on the platform.” 

During the chat, Sharma highlighted how Reels have become an integral part of the content creators' ecosystem in two years and truly represent where ‘Bharat’ and India come to play together.

Sharing the example of mimicry content creator Deependra Singh’s collaboration with Tiger Shroff's movie Heropanti 2, he said, “Deependra is from Nainpur in Madhya Pradesh. He once mimicked the dialogue ‘Chhoti bacchi ho kya’. It got so popular that Tiger Shroff and the marketing team of the film got him to promote the second movie. For me, that is the power of both Bharat and India coming together on Reels.”

Given the diversity in Indian culture, the variety that Indian content creators bring to the table is unmatched in the world, as per him.

Sharma commented, “We have more than 100 languages and the language and dialect change every 100 kilometres. Whether it is a creator selling peanuts from Bengal, a young girl from Raigarh in Pune or a stand-up comedy content creator from Ludhiana, the different languages and subcultures they come from bring so much rich content, which you do not find in many other countries.” 

While entertainment continues to be the leading genre among the creators, there are multiple subgenres where creators are creating content like tech, fashion, health and food, said Sharma. 

Sharma then told BestMediaInfo that the platform ensures that it gives equal opportunity for content creators across the country to get discovered on the platform irrespective of their reach. That is the sole reason for Meta to launch the ‘Born on Instagram’ programme. He also pointed out that 65% of the creators who are part of the programme are from tier 2, 3 and 4 towns. 

“If reels have been the rocketship of growth for short-form video in the country then we also build the base of the pyramid where the creators are coming from. Through ‘Born on Instagram’, our attempt is to enable and discover more creators who are coming into the ecosystem. We train and run this programme in seven different languages. Like this, anyone can get the best access to tools on how to become a creator,” commented Sharma. 

“Earlier, it used to reach out to 5,000 odd creators, now it reaches out to 220 thousand creators registered with us,” added Sharma. 

When it comes to attracting marketers' attention towards the creators’ economy, Meta keeps on innovating new content creation tools, so that the creators’ content becomes attractive enough to fetch the brands’ attention. Sharma said, “We keep on building our product. Once the creators are able to create good quality content, it becomes attractive to marketers.”

He also said that Meta also keeps on evangelising the marketing ecosystem around the importance of the creators' ecosystem.

Meta also trains young aspiring creators to match the brand requirements and help them crack deals. Sharma said, “Through the ‘Born on Instagram’ programme, we have provided multiple opportunities to young creators through our sales team, which works as mediators between the brand and the creators and create economic opportunities for the latter.”

BestMediaInfo.com spoke to Sharma on the back of the fifth and the last #MetaCreatorDay of 2023, which the social media giant Meta organised in Gurugram on November 6, 2022. 

‘Creator Day’ is Meta's annual flagship event to celebrate creators, as they best reflect the way its platforms are used by people to share, express themselves and be entertained. The 2022 version of the event took place across four cities - Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai, before coming to Delhi.

Talking about the insight for launching Creator Day, Sharma said, “Short-form video content has grown exponentially in the last two years with Reels being at the front end of it. Creators are powering this growth in short-form content. While a plethora of content was being created, it was mostly done in seclusion. But creators wanted to come together and collaborate with each other. Therefore, we came up with Creator Day which celebrates these creators and provides them with a platform to collaborate with each other and create more content.” 

Sharma also said that Meta didn’t want to limit it to a centre or two, as reels have shown that creators can be found anywhere in the country. “Our intent was to create multiple such engagement opportunities, creators' days and franchises. Before the end of 2022, we would have covered at least 30 different centres, out of which there are five creator days. We have creators' meet-ups also which took place in Kochi, Coimbatore, Lucknow and a few more are to go.” 

He concluded, “We are also going and meeting the younger creators in colleges and gaming creators. Because we are not limiting it to a centre, we are able to reach out to creators across the country. This event is not limited to creators with a huge following. We have deliberately brought together a good mix of all kinds of creators.” 

Info@BestMediaInfo.com