MUMBAI: Homegrown social media platform ShareChat and digital entertainment pioneers TVF are launching the first ever all-India digital-first talent discovery platform called The Viral Stars. The initiative aims to give millions of Indian youth across the country an opportunity to showcase their unique talent and become India’s next generation of Viral Stars along with multiple cash and other prizes.
The 3-month program opened its online call-for-entries on 15 November. Users can participate by recording a short video (up to 30 seconds) on ShareChat across categories including humour, music, dance, fashion, beauty, or ajab-gajab till 15 February. The program will be supported by a nation-wide campaign “#ZorSeTalentAaya
The entries can be submitted in eight languages including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. A digital leaderboard that will track audience reactions, engagements and votes on each video will determine the winners.
Speaking about the concept behind the latest offering, TVF president and chief operating officer Karan Chaudhry said, “As Indians, we love video content – nine in 10 Indians watch videos on their phones, across the major Indian languages. Humour, music, beauty, dance, or reality are amongst top short-form genres that India loves to watch online. A new generation of digital stars is emerging with new styles of content created for their dedicated fan-bases from Shimla to Salem, from Daman to Digboi.”
“The Viral Stars was conceptualised to provide a unique opportunity to these emerging creators to pursue their unique talent for life, aligned to our philosophy of being a platform for digital creators. Singers, dancers, writers, performers, or just talented creators with a smartphone camera are now just one viral video away from making it to the mainstream,” he added.
The Viral Stars program will visit 50-cities and engage with youth at over 200-colleges to shine the spotlight on emerging and hidden talent across campuses. The program will include on-ground activations featuring popular digital celebrities and youth influencers like Ashish Chanchlani, Mukti Mohan, Pranitha Subhash, and more.
The Viral Stars program participant submissions will be live on ShareChat app in the The Viral Stars category and will also be presented in a 200-episode series on TVFPlay’s The Viral Stars channel with a special focus on the youth from colleges.
Commenting on the initiative and the partnership with TVF, ShareChat chief business officer Sunil Kamath said, “We are extremely pleased to be associated with The Viral Fever to launch India’s first ever all India hunt for the next Viral Stars.”
He further noted, “ShareChat is India’s #1 regional social networking app developed keeping in mind the needs of Indian audience to communicate in their native languages. ShareChat has always endeavoured to provide a culturally relevant and truly Indian social media application for the country’s evolving internet users. Being a truly India social media app, we understand that our country is a pool of hidden talent that can be found in every nook and corner of the country. Through this association, we want to provide our users with a platform where they can showcase their talent and get an opportunity to become the next digital stars. As of now, we are a community of 50+ million people and we believe that our search for the next generation viral star would be a huge opportunity for our community.”
Commenting on the partnership with ShareChat, TVF global head of business and content development, Rahul Sarangi said, “ShareChat and TVF share the vision of thousands of new creative faces finding their audience – language and genre no bar. Through a strategy covering digital content, social influence and live experience, we’re using our expertise to encourage more creators and rewarding great content with the recognition it deserves. With the range of our culture, geographies, and languages, Viral Stars will foster an environment of content creation with the youth.”
