iWorld
Substack expands video capabilities amid Tiktok uncertainty
MUMBAI: The social media landscape is shifting, and Substack is seizing the moment. With Tiktok’s future in the U.S. hanging in the balance, the San Francisco-based startup is doubling down on video, aiming to lure creators looking for new ways to monetise their content. On 20 February, Substack announced that creators can now post video content directly through its app and place videos behind a paywall.
“There’s going to be a world of people who are much more focused on videos,” said Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie. “That is a huge world that Substack is only starting to penetrate.”
One of those creators is Carla Lalli Music, a food content creator and cookbook author, who made a dramatic switch from Youtube to Substack. After posting nearly 200 videos, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers, and generating millions of views, Music quit Youtube. Why? The numbers didn’t add up. She earned almost $200,000 in revenue in just one year on Substack, a stark contrast to the losses she incurred producing videos for Youtube since 2021.
“If I published four videos a month on Youtube, I’d earn about $4,000, but each video cost $3,500 to make,” Music said. “I was losing $10,000 a month.” Even with brand deals, the earnings barely covered production costs. Now, with her content behind a paywall, she’s focusing on writing another book, posting exclusive recipes, and selectively producing videos for Substack subscribers.
Founded in 2017, Substack initially served as a newsletter platform where writers could charge readers a monthly subscription fee. The company raised $100 million, with its most recent valuation exceeding $650 million. Today, more than four million paid subscribers and over 50,000 creators generate income on the platform.
With the uncertain future of Tiktok, Substack is aggressively expanding its offerings. Following Tiktok’s brief removal from Apple and Google’s app stores in January, Substack launched a $20 million fund to attract creators looking for a stable platform.
“If Tiktok gets banned for political reasons, there’s nothing to do with the work you’ve done, but it really affects your life,” McKenzie said. “The only and surefire guard against that is if you don’t place your audience in the hands of some other volatile system who doesn’t care about what happens to your livelihood.”
Now, Substack is courting video-first creators from competing platforms, offering them a place to own their audience without algorithms deciding who sees their content. Already, 82 per cent of Substack’s top 250 revenue-generating creators have integrated audio or video into their content.
Unlike its previous video feature that only allowed clips in Notes-Substack’s front-facing feed—the new update lets creators monetise videos, track viewership, and measure revenue impact.
For creators burned by unreliable earnings on other platforms, Substack’s paywalled video model offers a sustainable alternative. The company is betting that in a world where direct-to-fan revenue drives more than half of the $290 billion creator economy, the ability to monetise video will make its platform even more attractive.
iWorld
Govt pushes live events sector to Rs 196 billion by 2028
LEDC roadmap targets 15–20 million jobs and global hub status by 2030
MUMBAI: India’s live events story is getting louder and this time, it’s policy turning up the volume. The fourth meeting of the Live Events Development Cell (LEDC), chaired by Chanchal Kumar, was held on 30 April 2026 at Vigyan Bhavan, bringing together representatives from nine Central Ministries, six States and 12 industry stakeholders to chart the sector’s next phase of growth. The numbers already tell a compelling story. India’s organised live events industry was valued at Rs 145 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at 10 per cent to Rs 196 billion by 2028 making it one of the fastest-expanding segments within the media and entertainment ecosystem.
Set up in July 2025 by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the LEDC is tasked with turning that momentum into a structured growth engine. Its long-term ambition is ambitious, position India as a global live events hub by 2030 while generating an additional 15–20 million jobs.
At the meeting, officials emphasised the sector’s multiplier effect spanning tourism, employment and allied industries while underlining the need for coordinated execution. A key update was the rollout of a single-window clearance system for live event permissions via the India Cine Hub portal, aimed at simplifying approvals and improving transparency.
States have been urged to adopt the system, alongside implementing the “Model Executive Order for Streamlining Licensing and Permissions for Live Events in India, 2026” by 31 May 2026. The framework seeks to standardise what has long been a fragmented and time-consuming regulatory process.
Beyond permissions, the discussion also turned to infrastructure and talent. A draft concept for greenfield venue development was tabled, alongside plans to build a skilled workforce. The Indian Institute of Mass Communication, in collaboration with industry bodies MESC and EEMA, is set to introduce certificate courses tailored to the live events sector.
Chanchal Kumar stressed that alignment across stakeholders is already in place, with the next challenge being execution at scale. The government, he noted, remains committed to creating a facilitative and transparent ecosystem for organisers.
For an industry once seen as fragmented and event-driven, the message is clear, India’s live events business is no longer just about the show, it’s about building an entire stage for growth.
