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What regional cinema tells us about the content creation market

Speak local languages? This is for you.

Author

Vikra Vardhan
October 28, 2024

Here is a thesis.

Any regional language with a decent-sized film industry naturally creates a market for regional content creators.

The correlation is direct, and it is because the audience has already appreciated local culture and developed a taste for content in a regional language.

When you choose to be a local creator, you’re reaching out to the audience in new formats—reels, podcasts, etc., instead of cinema. But not to an unfamiliar segment (wrt language.)

In India, languages like Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Bengali, etc., have decent-sized film industries. Creators are already present in each of these languages.

If you think the market isn’t big, here are some numbers of Telugu content creators across different categories on YouTube (I speak Telugu so I might give one or two Telugu creator economy examples):

  • Movie Reviews: 210k

  • Meme Reactions: 131k

  • Podcast: 932k

  • Fashion and Lifestyle: 2.81M

These are only from a few channels I am aware of.

Why should you give a fuck about this?

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So, why bother about creating content in regional languages?

There is probably no better time to become a regional content creator.

A few successful creators have paved the way and shown what categories or content formats work. The viewers got used to video content. All you need to do is publish good content and reach hundreds of thousands of audiences.

Movie related podcasts, memes, and reviews are already saturated in Telugu market, IMO. If you delay this by 2-3 years, more categories will probably become saturated.

Not only that, this is what top creators told in the WTF podcast (1:56:50-2:05:00):

Tanmay Bhat: “When you speak to people’s identity, it generates a higher engagement rate—be it in their native language or be it about who they are.”

Prajakta Koli: “If a brand has to come to me to market a product in a certain language in a certain part of the country that I don’t speak, I could have millions of followers, but I am useless. It doesn’t matter. A creator who speaks the regional language, has the regional references, and has 1/100th of my numbers could charge a premium and get that much ROI for the brand.”

Tanmay Bhat: “…and supply is lower, so you can also charge more.”

Native speakers are just one segment.

Now, most of the top channels have started dubbing in local languages because they realized they could reach more viewers by talking to them in the language they speak. For example, Think School.

Again, similar to how movies are dubbed into different languages.

Meaning: If you can articulate in regional language, there is a huge distribution waiting for you. The growth will probaly be faster and you could charge more premium for partnerships.

I want to do something regional as well; I am just waiting for a niche I’ll be curious about. I don’t want to do the same things I do in English. Life gets boring that way.

PS: I am not saying regional creators thrive only in the markets with successful film/music industries. But a successful industry is a sign of proven regional content.

I hope this was useful. If yes, please share it with more readers like you. Would mean the world to me if you could help Cognition grow.

Love,
Vikra.