Watch time equals payday: This platform empowers creators with immediate rewards

He lost his decent banking job during the economic meltdown in the US in the first decade of the 2000s. That was the turning point in his professional career. Instead of coming back to India, he set out on his fascinating entrepreneurial journey with whatever savings he had had at that time. Mediamorphosis Advertising & Technology Inc, Manhattan Communications, Manhattan Tech Ventures, Ethnocast, ParentsConcern, Lykstage - he started creating business organizations - one after another (may not be in this order, though).

Mediamorphosis Advertising & Technology Inc is a full-service marketing and technology firm operating out of New York City. It has been rated among the top 10 Asian American marketing companies in US by AD Age rating and also among the 5000 fastest growing companies in America by Inc.500. Ethnocast is a full service ethnic agency based out of London. It specializes in targeting ethnic audience in UK. Ethnocast works closely with a large number of mainstream brands through its trading partnerships with large mainstream agencies in UK. Manhattan Communications is a 360 degree digital marketing solutions company with offices in US, UK, UAE and India. It offers a full spectrum of digital marketing services.

And now Lykstage, his current dream project and closer to his heart, is a user generated video sharing platform that rewards not only its creators but also its viewers to empowering creators to start earning from day one from the platform.

Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Adris Chakaborty, New York-based serial entrepreneur and Founder, Lykstage, outlines how he wants to turn his latest company as the biggest video-sharing platform and an ecosystem for the creators and viewers

From decent banking job to creating several startups - how has been the entrepreneurial journey so far?

It has been uncertain and exhilarating at the same time. My jobs taught me a lot, and I believe that's the reason why I could gather the courage to start my first business venture, which is Mediamorphosis, an advertising agency. Entrepreneurship was never on my bucket list, and the world of advertising was unknown to me. But I had the support of my wife, who I would say is better at maintaining relationships with clients. Once this agency was set up and we found more people who were as dedicated to our mission, we started creating a network of startups. To date, all the team members at our startups are closely connected. It's not my journey alone, it's a collective journey. Mostly a roller-coaster, but which journey isn't?

What prompted you to get into your latest pet project Lykstage?

I founded a media distribution business in 2005, which was running along my advertising agency. We used to distribute foreign channels in North America, UK, and Europe. I had gained enough insight into the shift of content distribution to the digital landscape, the advent of the creator economy, and the dynamics of online advertising. That shift called for a bigger solution.

Video streaming is projected to make 91 per cent of the total internet traffic by 2024. It's a huge number! And we realised that there's a gap in the creator space, a problem that could be solved for the creator economy. People consider content creation as a career only when they start seeing themselves in the top 2 per cent of cream creators. The rest struggles with consistency and monetization of the content. That's what we solve for creators. They don't have to reach a milestone, a subscriber count, or watch hours to start earning. As soon as they start creating, they get paid for the watch time on their videos. Their creation is their milestone. For the viewers, we realise that people get immense gratification from a 15-second video that goes viral for no significant reason. We don't believe in virality. We believe in quality content. And when viewers watch this content, they also get rewarded for it. After all, creators won't be creators if there weren't viewers to support them.

How do you differentiate it from other social networking platforms? What are the features?

To begin with, you can earn by creating content and also by watching videos. There's live-streaming of TV channels, premium content that can be rented out, and even password-protected videos for smaller communities. Imagine having various business models to monetize your content, while also giving an opportunity to your viewers to earn while they're watching videos.

Your competitors, in this space, would be some of the biggies. How do you like to take them (competitors) on?

We're entering the market with a unique proposition. We're not exactly trying to compete with the biggies. We are trying to give a better solution to creators and viewers. We are for people who want to become creators, who're looking for a platform where their content would be valued and they'll immediately get the monetary returns on it. We are for people who spend their valuable time making these creators who they are. Lykstage is the only video-sharing platform where both viewers and creators get the chance to contribute to each other's monetary incentive. We're not saying we're better. We're saying that we have more to offer - a community where creators and viewers directly support each other.

How do you see the digital content market evolving in India and across the world?

As I said, video content is going to dominate the digital content space in my opinion. And our goal still remains the same. To make dreams come true, to give priority to quality content over viral content, and to attach a monetary value to the time viewers spend watching video content on the internet. If time is money on Lykstage, content is the king.

How do you propose to do handholding with content creators?

Of course, we plan to support our creators from the first step of this journey. Having said that, Lykstage in itself is doing the handholding with content creators from day one. When you see yourself getting rewards for the first video you upload, you are motivated to create more content. We're incentivizing creators from the very first day because we don't want them to give up on their content creation journey. The fatigue is real. I've seen many creators fade out of social media platforms as swiftly as they begin, because it takes time to monetize content. Here, all it takes is a creator's time. The more they create, the more they earn.

What is your current headcount and what are hiring plans over the next two years?

We have more than 40 people contributing to the growth of Lykstage. Funding wasn’t our priority when we had just launched the product. We want to bring the best user experience to our Indian audiences. It’s a long process of trial and error. It was not before we truly refined our product after taking constant feedback from the users that we began to look for investors. We’re now hunting for visionaries who would believe in Lykstage as much as we do. When we have more stake-holders on board, this team will only get bigger. We’re doing it one day at a time for now.

Where would you like to see Lykstage 2-3 years down the road?

Our vision has always been global. Considering India's population, diversity of cultures, and the ever-evolving state of the creator economy, it only made sense to start here. We will also be launching in the US soon. The ultimate goal is to make it not just the biggest video-sharing platform, but an ecosystem for the creators and viewers. Where they can create, host events, launch courses, have exclusive content, stream live-TV channels, and monetize all of it.