iWorld
Vice explores India’s gully rap in first documentary for Voot
MUMBAI: Vice India, a leading youth media brand for the first time has produced a documentary on the gully rap scenario in India named Kya Bolta Bantai for the video on demand platform by Viacom18, Voot. Vice India’s first 30-minute standalone long form documentary charts the evolution of gully rap – an emerging genre of music that is slowly gaining momentum and entering the mainstream, being co-opted by Bollywood and other commercial ventures.
Kya Bolta Bantai is directed by Naman Saraiya and explores the journey of gully rap through the perspective of pioneers, including crew members such as Dopeadelicz, Swadesi and spoof rappers Gari-B, of comedy collective Tadpatri Talkies.
This partnership comes as part of the company’s “off-platform” strategy after the announcement of full-scale operations under the Vice.com banner in April this year, to allow its select original as well as partner content to be hosted and promoted to viewers across multiple destinations in the digital ecosystem. For instance, Kanchenjunga Calling, a series that explores the journey of a real-life hero Arjun Vajpai as he attempts to climb Mt Kangchenjunga. Vice India’s first foray into partner content creation in India with Mountain Dew, PepsiCo, is also being distributed on Voot as part of this deal.
“It is our endeavour as a full-scale media company to be omnipresent; establish strategic partnerships to take what we create to an environment where the relevant viewers are already consuming rich content. Kya Bolta Bantai is an attempt to create content that is relatable to the youth of the country in a unique format of storytelling that is true to the pulse of not only Mumbai, but our country at large,” said Vice India CEO Chanpreet Arora as quoted by Dailyhunt.
Vice India has been producing local video and editorial content on various topics such as food, music, politics, sports, sex, identity, nightlife, arts, and comedy, in partnership with relevant influencers, brands and artists in the country. In the coming month, it will focus on covering sex-positive stories about sexual identities, sex toys, sex art, and more in India under the banner of ‘The VICE Guide to Sex in India’.
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Chanpreet Arora appointed CEO of Vice Media India
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
