 "3 Must-watch Indian lifestyle channels on YouTube")
In the last feature , we saw how several emerging media companies are focusing on creating content for YouTube channels. Frustrated with the bureaucracy that exists in the traditional media companies and their lack of willingness to experiment with new formats, many have taken an alternative route. And many of them are lured to YouTube owing to the creative freedom that it provides. While these are new media companies who are focusing on developing YouTube channels, there are even many individuals who have also successfully leveraged the platform to make a career or augment their businesses. Featured here are few such individuals who have made a mark with their YouTube channel.
Nisha Madhulika
With close to 50,000 subscribers for her YouTube channel, to say that Nisha Madhulika is popular would be an understatement. Nisha has a YouTube channel where she teaches how to cook Indian food. Back in 2007, after her son took over her responsibilities in their family business, Nisha decided to start a blog to write recipes for her children. The blog was in Hindi and it became quite popular. Her son then created a website for her. Later, at the insistence of her followers, she started creating videos and then turned to YouTube two years ago. Nisha is passionate about cooking and loves experimenting with new recipes. But never had she thought her hobby could one day become her career. Initially, her husband helped her make the videos using handycam; now she has a team for creating, editing and managing her videos. Probably the biggest contributing factor for her success is that her videos are in Hindi. Nisha explains the recipes in easy-to-follow conversational manner and makes it a point that the videos aren’t lengthy. She also interacts with her viewers, helps them out if they get stuck with something and even takes up request for recipes. Nisha uploads around four to five videos in a week and wants to continue doing so. She says, _“The revenue has been good. But for me it’s more than just a food channel. I am now connected with my viewers, it’s an association that gives me immense pleasure and keeps me going.” _
Sonal Sagaraya
While learning animation, Sonal would often browse tutorial videos on YouTube. That’s when she also came across videos providing make-up tips. It got her thinking and she decided to create her own YouTube channel. She roped in her school friend Rishabh Shah, an audio engineer who was doing freelance work for a couple of studios, and they created a YouTube channel dedicated to make-up and beauty tips. A video explaining a nail-art technique is what got them noticed and Sonal was invited by beauty brand Maybelline to be a part of their beauty brigade initiative. Later, they also provided her with products to be reviewed and even sponsored a giveaway. Sonal has also been approached by several sites that retail beauty products to review the products. However, Sonal prefers buying her own products and does not depend on brands, as they then expect a good review. She keeps her videos short and to the point, Sonal says, “People want to know the complete look and if the video is really long, they may not even watch the whole thing. So we try and keep our videos within five minutes.” While their videos have been quite popular, they haven’t been that regular in posting fresh content. They want to address this in the coming months and have actually created a schedule of videos that they will be posting on the channel for the next of couple of months. Apart from make-up tips, Sonal also plans to create videos that will focus on creating a complete look – right from dress, make-up and accessories. Also in the pipeline is a video-blogging channel where they will talk about interesting concepts in science or anything that catches their fancy. Even though the revenue isn’t that great at the moment, Sonal and Rishabh, both in their early twenties, are sure that this is what they want to keep doing.
Xcell Fitness
As a certified trainer and a nutritionist, Raghav Pande runs a fitness consulting firm, Xcell Fitness, where he offers personalised nutrition plans and training programmes for weight loss. Today, he has a lot of international clients who approach him via his website for personalised solutions. And he attributes this success to his YouTube channel that he started way back in 2009. He uploaded videos providing general fitness tips, how to lose weight, various exercise methods and other such fitness related tips. Initially, his videos didn’t garner much response, but all that changed in 2011 when he was chosen as a YouTube Next Trainer. YouTube had picked sixteen trainers from across the world and Raghav was the only one from Asia. After that, his channel gained quite popularity. People started approaching him for personalised fitness solution that he provides completely online. His body transformation programme has found many takers in India as well as abroad, and you also find videos of people sharing experiences of their weight loss. Raghav and his team keep a tab on their client’s progress with regular online updates and Skype sessions. He believes in potential of the online medium and YouTube is something that he is quite keen on. His focus is on creating short and interesting videos, as he doesn’t want to come across as preachy. Raghav finds innovative ways of getting across the message.
If you browse YouTube, you will find many more success stories of individuals who are experimenting with the platform and are doing well for themselves. Propelling them further is the help and support provided to them by YouTube as a part of its partner programme. As a result, the number of independent content creators is steadily growing and it’s only a matter of time before YouTube establishes itself as a premium content platform. Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and also tell what YouTube channels you have subscribed to.
Cover image: Harshad Gujare