Short and long video platforms are gaining popularity day by day. With the increase in Internet penetration and substantial reduction in cost of data in last ten years, the amount of time Indians spend watching videos on different platforms has increased manifold. Increase in consumption of video content has also led to blooming of content creators. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Tiki like platforms have seen massive increase in video makers as well as subscribers.

All these developments augur well for the economy of India. These platforms provide youngsters with talent an opportunity to highlight their creativity to the world. it provides avenues to the underprivileged sections of the society who could not have afforded to come in front of the world otherwise.

This can be termed as democratization of content creation fueled by short video platforms.

Many of these content creators make good money when they garner a lot of subscribers and many people watch their videos. The amount of money made by these content creators depends on the type of videos, duration of videos,video quality, the platform and miscellaneous other factors. For example, value of 1 subscriber on a long video YouTube channel is far more than the value of a subscriber on platforms like RikTok and Tiki. This also denotes that with equal number of subscribers on these platforms,a content creator will be able to make more money on YouTube than on TikTok. These earnings differ by a huge margin. Since the effort made in creating a long video outweighs the effort in creation of a 30 seconds video, the rewards depend on the effort made.

The competition among content creators is increasing day by day, especially in the short video format. India, having one of the highest numbers of young people in the world and fighting the challenge of unemployment, is bound to see the competition get fiercer. Many youngsters have started considering these platforms as a viable career option. The name and fame gained by many of the big handles on these platforms acts as the biggest attraction for teenagers.

Now, the big question —

Can these platforms be considered an alternate career option to traditional fields like engineering, medicine, commerce, biotechnology, environmental sciences, or any other vocational discipline which can get one a regular income job?

This rule is applicable to every sector of career avenue. In case of short videos, the entry barrier is very low. One simply needs a camera smartphone and data connection to enter the segment. Anyone and everyone from anywhere can be a content creator on these platforms as there is no vetting based on skills or CVs. The success is not easy to come amidst intense competition. One needs to be highly skilled in one’s performance to make some mark and hence,make money with short videos.

Another factor which comes into play is that most of the consumers of videos on short video platforms have low purchasing power, and therefore advertisers do not want to spend a lot on the content creators. That is why the ad revenue from long videos on elite, or niche topics on YouTube is more. There is cut throat competition in every segment of short videos format-whether it be dance or mimicry, as everyone gets the opportunity to present their performance at low cost. This is not the case with other traditional fields like engineering or medicine. Since there are too many content creators on these platforms with substantial number of followers, advertisers think it prudent to hire maximum creators with a fixed amount of money. This further reduces the revenue of creators. There is no denying that some of the creators with followers in multi-millions make good amount of revenues.

Recently there was a report in the newspaper mint that “peaked at 19, irrelevant by 22” which stated that one of the biggest concerns most of the content creators are facing is that they gain the maximum popularity by the age of 19 and they become insignificant by the time they are 22 years old. There are many factors behind small shelf-life of these creators. Primarily, most of these creators run out of topics in their niche. There comes a stagnation in creativity just like writer’s block.

Second factor is that many latest content creators are entering the market daily with something novel. Many people flock to the fresh faces as there is an urge to seek new kind of entertainment by new performers. This makes it tough for creators to hold on to their fan base. The loyalty quotient of fans decreases in such a scenario. Advertisers are more eager to collaborate with the fresh faces and this reduces the earnings of old content creators This has also to do a lot with the fact that many of the established content creators do not find traction among the newer demography subscribing to the platforms. In this respect, this field is remarkably similar to the modeling industry where new models replace old models within few years. Only the most popular models hold on to their positions for a longer time.

Considering all the arguments mentioned above, it will not to be wrong to say that these short video platforms cannot be an alternative to conventional career streams for most of the people. This article was particularly important to be written because many youngsters nowadays think of these platforms as a shortcut to fame and money. Some of them looking to avoid studies and arduous work start dreaming of these platforms as an effortless way to success, which is completely opposite to truth.

It also needs to be said that those with skills and tenacity to survive the cut-throat competition in this field can enter the segment and make a mark. Others can try their luck as a part time vocation.