 We move on to the next panel of Gaming Influencer Marketing where we have some of the top gaming influencers from India who will discuss how brands can benefit from the millions of followers through influencer marketing tactics. Please join me in welcoming our panelists and session chair while we have with us Ankit Panth, a We3Norm Red Bull athlete and a gamer. We've got Ujwal Chaurasia, Technogamers Z. We've got, of course, Ankit, who's a Red Bull athlete and a gamer himself. We've got Ankit Chauhan, who's a gaming content creator. We've got Shagufta Iqbal, who's a gaming content creator by the company name being XYAA. Please, Shagufta, if you can clarify, we'd love that. We've got Sameera, who's a content creator on YouTube. And we've got, of course, Sanjay Tripati, who's a co-founder and CEO, Agilio Alabs, who's going to be the session chair. Well, wow. You know, with all the influencers on the screen, it's going to be a great conversation and we're loving the energy already. All right, I can see a few of you only on the screen. But yes, as you can see, everyone's turning on their cameras and we're liking it and we would want to stick on the schedule. So, of course, we'd request our session chair, Sanjay. I know there are two of your panelists right now on your screen and apologies, we didn't have everyone join in, but I'm sure the team is following up on that. But let's start the games and you've got the influencers, mega influencers on the screen. Please take the conversation ahead and we'll update you once the others join in. Thank you. Okay. Others are joining very subtly. So, nevertheless, like, I will start with Ankit. I think Ankit, we had a very great discussion yesterday and why don't you start saying that, you know, how you become an gamer influencer in this, like, you know, where it started? Hi, first of all, thank you for this opportunity. I started when, you know, I was in school. I saw this black dented glasses in front of me. There was a shop and, you know, there was a lot of loud noises coming out. So I went inside and, you know, that's where I got to know about gaming cafes. That was my first move. And after that, I started inquiring about, you know, what is this, what is this all about? So I got to know that, you know, pay you pay and you play for some time and you can play multiple games. Then I did a little, a little more research. I got to know that you can represent your country in gaming. So that intrigued me. And, you know, I thought I want to do this because I want to lift my country's flag on an international stage. So that was my move into professional gaming through gaming cafes. Oh, so nice. Any challenges you face? Like, you know, when you get into good gaming? Hell lot of challenges. First of all, parents acceptance was not there. They thought that, you know, me going in that dark room was a dungeon. And, you know, I was going there to gamble. They thought that machine and computers, they did not understand all of that. So they thought I take money, I take that 10 rupees, I go in that cafe and, you know, I try to get it 20 or 30 rupees out of it. But then slowly, slowly I made them understand that, you know, this is not gambling. I play and, you know, there are tournaments that happen. And maybe in future, I can take this as a career. So there are a lot of misconceptions about gaming. Once I told this to my parents, then the second thing came that you will get spectacles, you will get back pain. Once my mom saw that, you know, I was standing outside with my teammates and, you know, they were shouting, someone was smoking, drinking and abusing. And then those misconceptions started happening that, you know, you will also become like them. You should not go in that place. That's a dark place. You will ruin your life. So all of that started happening. But then slowly, slowly, I told them, you know, you give me your doubts. If those guys are doing it, that doesn't mean I want to do it. I want to represent my country at the highest level. So I took a notebook actually and, you know, I noted all that doubts. You can know smoking, no drinking. This is back pain, spectacles and all these not having a proper diet. So then slowly, slowly, until today, you know, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I tell my fans also, you know, these are all bad things. You shouldn't do it. That aggression is not there. My mom thought that, you know, gaming, I play FPS games, there is shooting and, you know, you plant a bomb, you diffuse a bomb, you throw flashes. So my mom thought, you know, you will get into all these aggressive things. You shouldn't do that. And that's what till today nothing bad has happened. And now I have that trust saying that, okay, my child is not like that. You know, and now he's playing at the highest level. He has people who love him. He's playing for the country also. So now things are good. But back then, it was very difficult to make them understand all these things. Sameer, Sameer, like you heard Ankit's story, like, you know, how you become an gaming influencer and, you know, did you face some similar challenges from your parents, like, you know, preconceived notions kind of thing? Not really, but I was a very studious kind of like a student. I was into studies and a lot. And whenever I was back at home, my mom used to tell me to play something, but you always keep like books and all. And she encouraged me actually. So I was always into this video games when in school. Then it started like, okay, my mom used to tell, okay, when I got into a job, then I realized, okay, now I can, you know, start something with gaming or it's always like nine to five or a boring job. So whenever I used to, I mean, get back home after the work, I used to, you know, play our games. So I just had a thought like, yeah, we can stream this too. So it just started and yeah, they all like supported me. So Ankit, like now, we just heard a story of Ankit and Sameer. So what is your story? How you become an gaming influencer and what kind of challenges you face? And Ujwal, this is for you joining a little later. So don't mind the interruption. Okay, okay. So I wanted to teach my friends YouTube videos for fun. I uploaded 3-4 videos like that. I showed those videos to my friends. But after a while, I saw 150-200 videos on them. And then my brother saw the videos. And I knew that YouTube can be a career. And he recognized my passion and then he supported me. Gradually, challenges, studies, exams, everything. Because I started after 10th standard. So balancing is very important. If I'm taking such a big risk that I want to play a game too. And I want to study with them. So balancing both of them is the biggest challenge. I stopped at that time. Then I kept uploading videos regularly. And then one video viral and then the audience came to the channel and grew. Good. Very interesting. Sagupta, like you heard Ankit's story and Ujwal's story. So how you become an influencer and did you face similar challenges while becoming an influencer? My story is quite similar to Ujwal. I hope you all can hear me. So my story is also very similar to Ujwal. Since my childhood, I was always into gaming. And I used to play like lots of my dad had a computer. And in that bed, I used to play games. And then my friends got me introduced to online multiplayer games. And then in online games, I used to watch videos and stuff to learn more about the game. And from that, I found out that there is a thing called streaming, where people stream their own games. Then they get viewers, their community forms. And I was always shy type personality. So I did not have a lot of friends. So I was like, yes, I see something good here. So I can make friends online through gaming, through doing what I love. So I also started streaming as a hobby. At the start, I had like one, two people who used to watch me and then slowly, slowly it grew. And after that, I started doing challenges. When I was in engineering, it was difficult like balancing studies and gaming. That was my number one challenge. And then I had a job. So I had a job all day. And then I used to stream at night. So it was difficult, balancing that. Good. I think everyone had the same challenges while growing up in terms of studies, balancing. And parents, no objection from parents or how to really manage that kind of thing. Ankit, when you thought you were gaining followers, is it the game which helped or you're creating content or your engagement with the followers actually helped you? You felt that, okay, now that I'm getting a follower base and I should do this more and more. I think for me, it came from the game that I played. I started with Counter-Strike 1.6. Back then, social media was not that big. Then when Counter-Strike Global Offensive came, social media started improving and with Valorant. So for me, it was more about playing at the highest level, representing your country and being there in the top three in India. So people wanted to know more about me, wanted to know what I did, how I earned money, what are these tournaments. So my fans came from, most of the fans came from there only. Okay. Kail, you became a Red Bull athlete. Can you tell us how you became a Red Bull athlete and how did your fans, what story did your fans grow because of the game and your content? Up to 1 million, my subscribers growth was like, it was ever growing. One video viral, subscribers started coming, then it's already down. So slowly, gradually, subscribers came up to 1 million. Then what did I do? I was only on mobile games, that time I was on mobile. Then what did I do? I took a risk that I switch to PC games. But in that case, the audience that I see on mobile, maybe they don't watch PC games. But then I took a risk and started playing games. And I started GTA. And I made a series of myself in GTA. And they liked it a lot. And from there, the channel was very good. It boomed. And Red Bull athlete, which I think, I had to do a lot of things by moving away from gaming in that zone. And Red Bull also needed an athlete who wanted to do something different, something with a different gaming but on a different level. So then we both had a match over scene. And the background, if you look at it, maybe Red Bull is the only thing that I felt special about Red Bull. That there was no controversy with anyone. And a positive audience, which was somewhere, I mean, I saw Red Bull in the same positive image that there was a lot of audience. Because I didn't see that Red Bull focuses on this more, that it has a lot of audience, so make it Red Bull athlete. Otherwise, there would be a lot of athletes today. But what I felt, and the most thing is that whatever the big end does, whatever the future comes, it's enough, it's going to be fun. It's a little bit of gaming, but it's a little bit out of the game, real-life gaming. So Ankital, when you thought you were actually getting followers or believing that you are a gamer, now people are following you, you have to create content. So is it because of the games you played or because of the content you created, so where you found the difference? I think people watched me for my personality. I think it's not just the game, you have to be entertaining as a person, yourself, if you're going to be live streaming and you want people to come watch you. So I think that's what set me apart. Okay. So Sameera, is that you believe what Ankital is saying or saying or like you think there is something more also to become a good gamer or a good streamer? Yeah, with me, the thing was that people were like, much curious, yeah, multi-lingual streamed. So I mean, how can you talk in like nine languages? Okay, we talk in this language to reply in that language. So that's how curiosity increased, how many languages have been spoken. So people started growing like that. Okay, Shagupta, like you also call yourself Zaya. So what is the story, like why you have got another name? Because people believe in that name or they follow you on that name. How you created that name and how you gained followers? So Zaya actually like, there was this favorite YouTuber of mine and he named his cat and from there, I got inspiration for this name. I put this name in a very unique, a little mysterious type. So that's why I just chose it. And you know gaming name, like it's a personality of mine. Like me, IRL, Shagupta is like, I mean kind of different than like me online. So yeah, and these days, even my family members call me Zaya sometimes. And followers gaining. I mean, I always try to experiment with my games and content like Hameesha. I never really, really stuck to one single game. So my audience has a lot of different games. So yeah, I like to experiment and say my audience, like my I got more and more followers from that. Ankit, do you follow any international gamer and you know, and what you have learned from them? Is there anything which you have picked from them? Like, you know, when you are trying to become a gaming influencer, like this is something that you want to acquire, let's say, like all the top gamers around the world. So I used to follow NIP, MIBR, this counter strike, 1.6 teams back then. And I noticed one thing that, you know, these guys were not relying on only tournament prize winnings. So coming from a humble background, I knew I couldn't, you know, rely on winnings only because no one can say that you will go into, you're going to win every tournament that you play. And in my case, also it was the same thing. So I asked myself this question back then, what if I lose a tournament and I don't get money? How would I, you know, pay for my electricity? How would I feed my parents? And that's when, you know, I got the, I did some research and I got to know about sponsorships and about a little bit of marketing. So back then I started, you know, knocking at sponsors doors and telling them, this is what I do and, you know, I'm the best in the country. Would you like to sponsor us? So from there, the sponsorships, sponsorship journey began and slowly, slowly, you know, a lot of brands started coming in. That's where the real money was back then, in 1.6 counter strike global offensive and now valorant. Because if I told my parents that, you know, only if I win, I'll get money and only then I can take care of yourself, care of my family and you guys and it would not have been right. And I didn't want to keep my family hanging there. So I started building it very early and that's what I learned from the global teams that, you know, they were playing well. They were being represented well. In our case, we had to do, in my case, at least I had to do everything on my own because back then making those marketing heads understand about sponsorships and, you know, how they will benefit if they sponsor me, if they get low on my jersey. So those were the things which really helped and, you know, we started, things started falling in place. So this was something that I learned from the international teams. Ujjil, you heard Amkit's story. How did you get sponsorship? How did your brand association start? First time, when I had 1 lakh subscribers, I used to see a lot of brand deals coming on everyone, a lot of different things. So at that time, I was shocked, man, come to me. I mean, it was that we didn't have anything for money. I mean, it was a topic of hate that extra revenue would come from us. But it was also I didn't know from the inside that we were adding something else. So the first time that I got a sponsor was the stock market. And I made a big mistake that I promoted it and the first and last one was that when the market is up and down, whatever it is, I promoted it. Then later on, I asked myself if this is right. I mean, it's an audience. We all know that it's a maximum child. So they won't understand. And on the other hand, it's a game that ruins money. So it was a mistake. Then after that, I tried to promote something that was beneficial to me, but it should also be beneficial to my audience along with it. So then it was like games are coming. No, not games. Promote what is really good. It's fun to play. It's not like I promote whatever game I have. I feel better than myself that it's fun to play. Now I promote that. And I got a sponsor from a few things. And then whatever it is, I try to benefit both of them. So Sameera, we heard from Ujjewel that he doesn't want to do the stock market one. So is there any no-no for you when you are actually getting brand association? How do you give value to the brand when the brand comes to you? Exactly. I would love to share my experience. Same thing happened with me. I got an opportunity where I got something related to betting. So I wanted to promote this. Then I denied saying that because most of our audience will be kids, right? School going kids and all. So keeping that in mind, we actually denied that offer. Ankit, there are many influencers. There are many types of influencers which we see in the market. It can be fashion, it can be travel. So where do you think gaming influencer has a differential offering for the brand or the marketeers? And which other category you think gaming influencer can do a good job compared to other influencers? When it comes to gaming influencers, there are so, so many of us and everybody's doing something different. We are not just playing games. When you look at us, a lot of us have experimented with blogging, with travel blogs, with lifestyle blogs, with fashion. And there's so many other things that gamers do. And I believe that apart from gaming, we can also provide all of these lifestyle brands with something great. Sagupta, like in yesterday, we discussed about this. Where do you think gaming influencer adds value? For example, what do you do for the brand so that you believe brands as brands find you stickier in terms of whether it's a content creation or going out of the way to really do something more for the brand? Can you give any example which you have done for any of the brands? So I am currently working with MSI Gaming as they are my sponsor. And so for them, it's like, they don't really give me a lot of work. Like these reach me, they give me work to do. But then, even without any work, like sometimes I will post a video for them or sometimes I'll post the story for them and tag them in my stories and stuff. So they get really happy, like, hey, we did not ask you to do this for us, but you're still doing it for us. So they really appreciated that. So, you know, like, we just don't have to stick with the deliverables. If you go out of your way and do something for the brand, then they really appreciate it. Oh, okay. Ankit, this is the last question, I think. We have almost consumed all the time, the entire time. So you are one of the senior gamers. You have seen how the brands has come in. You started with getting going to the brands directly. Now there are a lot of agencies which reach up to you. But if you look at international gamers and international influencers, the kind of categories they do and the kind of categories where our influencers are doing, do you think there is a gap and what the influencer or the brands can do more to really get gaming influencers, use gaming influencers more? I think brands, earlier also when I went to my first brand, he was like, we don't trust gamers. We had a very bad experience. And you know, that was like an eye opener for me, because I didn't do it. But you know, I had to take the blame because of fall gamers. So I decided to change that. And I think right now it's improving a lot from what I can see. Earlier it was not the case. Earlier everyone used to go through agencies because they feel safe there. The brands feel safe that okay, if the gamer does not do the deliverables agency will make them do, they have contract signed. And then the brands don't want to go to the influencer or whoever they're signing that, Barbar, you do this, you have to, you promise this, but you didn't do it. And that's why they take the root of an agency. Most of the guys, most of the brands I feel are very secured in going to big agencies and telling them, okay, get me 10 influencers or get me five influencers. This is a project. And then the agencies start pitching the influencer that this is what you want to do. These are the deliverables. What are your commercials? In my case, I have always been going to the brands directly. And that has really worked well for me. So now for an example, if I tell you my sponsorships, now I am the brand ambassador of HyperX, I'm a Red Bull athlete, I'm the brand ambassador of Intel, I'm the brand ambassador of Alienware. So these are all directly brand sponsorships. When I speak to them, they don't want to take me for someone who would do six posts or entertain posts. They sign me for yearly contracts. And that depends on branch to branch also. Now some do micro influencer campaigns, some do proper influencer campaigns and some do the brand ambassador types. So this is what I tell people in the community also that you should start with small, because I also started with small, you can't just go there and tell them, I want to be the brand ambassador of your brand. Trust me, brands will not give you their logo till the time they start trusting you. I've worked really hard and I know for the fact that they might first give you something, some gear that some peripherals that you want to promote, then they might give you some money. But if they trust you completely, then only, you will be given their logo and they will welcome you to the family. So this is what agencies kind of do in a better way. But now from all these gaming hypes, the games which are growing Valorant and Battlegrounds and all these influencers like Ankita and all these big guys, Zaya, Ujwal, now these guys can go directly to the brands because they have worked hard. I've seen them growing since the beginning. These are legit people. So brands now, the atmosphere is that okay, now they can trust them because they have done multiple campaigns, they have done multiple projects. But earlier, it was not the case. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ankita. I think what Ankita said and all the panelists are actually saying that gaming influencers are really, really growing in India and like in international markets, a lot of brands are now going to the gaming influencers. It is not restricted to the categories like mobile phones are electronic items. No, it is like lifestyle brands and all those things are coming. The target segment is like, you know, you and there are a lot of brands looking at you. I think more and more brands, if they can come to the gaming influencer, I think they will get a lot more value because of their unique content. And more importantly, the kind of followers they get probably most of them are unique followers because they don't really follow other passion or other influencer kind of thing. I think it's a women kind of thing and I wish you all the best and thank you so much for joining the panel. Thank you. Thank you so much, Sandhya, for letting us know these mega influencers and I'm sure their followers would really keenly look forward to their upcoming projects in future. Thank you for flagging the industry with all the boys and respect you've gone out for yourself. Thank you. Thank you. God bless.