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Traditional media needs to partner with UGC sites
MUMBAI: Traditional media owners need to form a partnership with user generated content (UGC) sites to serve their consumers.
This was a point that came out at a session at Ficci Frames that looked at User generated Content: Seizing the Opportunity.
The speakers were Viacom 18 senior VP corporate strategy and business Anuj Poddar, NDTV Networks and NDTV Convergence CEO Vikram Chandra, Anand and Anand head of copyright and entertainment law Jagdish Sagar and Intel Software and Solutions Group director Asia Pacific Narendra Bhandari.
Balika Vadu, for instance, is one of the top viewed videos on Youtube in India, demonstrating how traditional media can pull new media.
Copyright, however, remains a challenge and there is a lack of value flowing back to content owners. Solutions, though, are evolving. UGC has set across norms, including the filtering of content that has a copyright.
There is no distinction being made between user created and user generated content, notes Sagar. In the first case, the content creator surrenders all rights he has when he puts it up on a site. Many things can be done to that content like translation which the owner cannot control. In the second instance, somebody else uploads the content which the content owner may not be aware of.
The key to get out of this quagmire is to find a user friendly way to empower copyright owners. Sites like YouTube promote copyright infringement, Sagar notes. Getting an injunction is not a complete solution as it can only work for large content owners. One could look at a copyright society or having a licensing mechanism.
Dwelling on the opportunities and challenges of UGC for traditional media, Chandra said traditional media companies can get feedback and have user engagement which is what NDTV Social enjoys. There is also citizen journalism where news channels get tip offs and photos from disasters. But the challenge lies in finding a business model, Chandra adds.
NDTV has a channel on YouTube and there is revenue sharing for ads. However if NDTV content is uploaded outside this channel, then there is leakage that happens.
Bhandari noted that new media devices like the mobile would get smaller and smarter in the coming 24 months, allowing for HD level video to come from phones. UGC sites could benefit from an open source model technologically, he added.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
