iWorld
Content studio By The Gram aims for two-fold growth by end of 2023
Mumbai: Mumbai-based content studio, By The Gram expects to double its revenues by the end of 2023. This ambitious growth target will be achieved by broadening its client base across the globe including Hong Kong, UK, US and Dubai.
Founded in March 2018 with a focus on luxury, fashion and films, BTG has close to 25 clients and a team size of ~30 full time employees and 50 plus freelancers under its payroll. Founded by Aaliya Amrin, Danisha Kohli and Eman Batliwala, the content studio generated Rs 40 lakh in revenues in the first year of operations which has grown 16-fold in the four years of its existence.
“Back in 2018, Danisha, Eman, and I started this venture with merely an idea to fill a gap in the market. We weren’t totally sure how well it would sell. We are all a bit overwhelmed by the current rate of growth. We’ve come a long way since broadening our clientele globally. With bigger and better plans in the works, we look forward to working more closely with our existing brands while also building new ones on our journey,” said Amrin.
Batliwalla said, “Very delighted to be working with my two partners and the whole team & how we have come so far from the day we started. We have evolved significantly since beginning with 30 brands and progressing through various industries and especially setting ablaze with our OTT-driven initiatives and campaigns. We hope to continue growing and contributing our knowledge to new age content in the future.”
“Having a creative eye, working tremendously on it, and seeing the results bloom every day, only makes my heart fill with gratitude. Our creative team works tirelessly to come up with out-of-the-box ideas for the ever-changing trends in our industry. My team and I are really looking forward to working on creating more innovative and creatively trendsetting content.” added Kohli.
By the end of December 2023, BTG plans to work across verticals from brand identity, content development, visual direction and production, luxe editorial concepts and new OTT productions. It is poised for exponential growth in both India and global markets and aims to increase their team strength in markets like London and L.A this year and next.
The content studio has produced over 300 films and 2000 plus hours of content in the last four years. Its clients include Dharma Productions, Tiger Baby, Netflix, Prime Video, Nykaa, Lakme Fashion Week, Roy Kapur Films, Bumble, Tata Cliq Luxury and Lodha. By The Gram intends to be the preferred brand partner for leading OTT, Bollywood and luxury clients.
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
