24th July 2020: WittyFeed, popularly remembered as the fastest-growing viral content platform, today announced its pivot to a hyper-localized, professionally-generated content platform, STAGE, as a result of the company’s evolved vision to cater to the new BHARAT. Bridging the need gap for local and dialect based content in India for multilingual Bharatwasis and in-line with Government of India’s mission to ‘Go vocal for local’, STAGE aims to celebrate the glory of BHARAT in its most authentic and relatable form through two brand-new offerings – Nukkad by STAGE as a reinvented Bharat-inspired avatar of WittyFeed, and, STAGE, a first of its kind, artist-led and dialect-based OTT platform. The OTT platform would strive to offer unique and original content in local dialects such as Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Bundelkhand, Bhojpuri etc through art forms such as comedy, folk, poetry, storytelling and motivational content. It has already garnered enthusiastic response in its beta stage in Haryanavi.
‘Nukkad by STAGE’ is inspired by everyday conversations of Bharatwasis that often happen at local tea stalls, community meetings, street corners. It offers informative yet entertaining and relatable content (short format videos) in the form of fictional character-led shows under entertainment, politics, health, fake news, tech, to culture, sports, lifestyle, and even finance. It aims to bring world-class sensible and satire-based content on the lines of popular Comedy Central shows by Jimmy Fallon and Trevor Noah to BHARAT in a language that’s inclusive and familiar. Along with bringing professionally generated original content, Nukkad aims to fill the void for sensible content tackling complex issues like financial literacy, current affairs and more.
Vinay Singhal, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, STAGE, said, “Content consumption in India has seen a tremendous shift in the last few years with hyper-local content taking the lead across the country including metros. The rise in internet penetration and smartphone usage has led to this shift. The audience in BHARAT is looking for a platform that truly represents them and caters to their dialect. At STAGE, we aim to revolutionize the way 450 million+ Bharatwasis consume content and build a new category for professionally-generated and sensible content in not just local Indian languages but also dialects. STAGE is committed to bringing original content in Indian dialects that showcases the depth, history, honesty, and integrity of Bharat.”
“At STAGE, we strongly believe in the power of consumer stories and the art of storytelling. Through Nukkad by STAGE, a customer-first offering, we are engaging Bharatwasis to become part of conversations that matter, ranging from financial literacy to new-age experiences, to current affairs and more, in a language that includes them rather than alienating them. We are doing this through the lens of fun characters with a familiar backstory addressing challenges, issues, and cultivating conversations that Bharatwasis relate to in short video formats.” said Parveen Singhal, Co-Founder & Chief Content Officer, STAGE.
Shashank Vaishnav, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, STAGE, commented on the new offering, “Technology has enabled content to reach nooks and corners of BHARAT, but we believe that it isn’t engaging for and does not truly represent Bharatwasis. We have built an innovative, analytics and technology-driven platform bespoke to the consumption behaviour of new-age millennials of the country. We are leveraging robust technology and in-house designs to offer swift user experience and introduce a brand new generation to the grandeur of BHARAT.”
Nukkad by STAGE aims to empower Bharatwasis, who spend an average of 24 min per day on video consumption, with information that is relevant to their daily lives, in the local language. In July 2020, Nukkad by STAGE witnessed a reach of over 108M and engagement of 3M across its platforms. Shows on Nukkad by STAGE are led by fictional characters similar to the ones that are often found hanging out on the nukkads, chai points and addas of Bharat – Bubbly (dedicated to the movie-buffs), Raja Beta (tackles the complex topic of financial literacy), Raju Panchayati (has an opinion on everything under the sun and shares interesting, important and educational conversations with Bharat), Nicky AIMS (health and fitness show which focuses on how we can take preventive measures). These unique characters host weekly shows aligned to their characters across Nukkad’s properties: Bubbly Chali B-town, P bole to paisa, Paanch ka Punch, Beyond prescription, Sach saaf hai, First Time?.
A homegrown brand born out of Indore, in 2014, as a result of the collective entrepreneurial dream of 3 visionary and passionate individuals, WittyFeed quickly grew into the fastest-growing viral content website in 2016 (India’s largest and world’s second-largest). Vinay, Parveen and Shashank proved that creativity and entrepreneurship are independent of age and geographical limits/boundaries. STAGE is slated to announce the official roll-out of the dialect-dedicated OTT platform (currently in beta) in the coming months.
