 Welcome to E4M's content gem. Today we have some amazing panelists with us with very diverse backgrounds and creating content in different content genres but also with a very very strong similarity that is that all of these panelists have successfully built a profession out of their passion. We have Atul Khatli, I just got to know, he is a fellow computer engineer who decided to follow his passion in stand-up comedy while he was already running his other businesses at the age of 40. We have Dhwani Manushali who I have first seen become India's singing sensation from just a young kid trying to make his mark just few years back when I met her. We have Larissa with us who is a very popular travel and beauty blogger and favorite amongst a lot of brands. And we have last but not the least, Nikhil also known as Mumbik Nikhil who is leading the vlogging space in India and has inspired so many people in India to take up vlogging as a career. Nikhil also known for his love for bikes and travelling I think must be really waiting for the lock to end but as I can see you are on the road. He is already in the car so that's awesome. One step into it. And we have just been joined by the president of Dhombibali, Nikhil. It's going to be very difficult to talk to him with a straight face. I don't think me and Nikhil have ever spoken on a serious topic ever in our life. How are you guys doing? I know it's very all of you guys create content are used to create content in a very different background. But just each one of you can you just take us through your experience about creating content during current times while being locked up at home. I know possibly Nikhil is the only person who is still kind of staying safe and moving out and creating content but I'm sure rest of them are fully locked up at their home and still creating content. How is this impacted your entire game and the pressures that you have because it's not that you can take a break and not upload content for a month or two months. You have to be regular with the content and that's the basic steps of being a content creator. Nikhil, you want to start? Yeah, sure. I mean, I realized that I'm making more content than I am. And for me, I think it's kind of going back to basics. This is how exactly I started. I used to be a bartender. I had no idea about how to create content. I had no idea about any equipment or anything in particular. I used to do everything. So everything that I do or I started doing on YouTube was through learning from YouTube. So this is exactly how I started. And initially it was like a little tough because we were very used to the team around and going to the office, going to studios, shooting, going to Thane and shoot the project stuff. So initially it was a bit difficult. But then since I started making videos, I realized I'm posting almost like a video every day. And I'm having fun doing it. I'm enjoying my time. I'm in constant call with all the members of my team and I've been discussing stuff on what to do. One thing that I've noticed is that I'm refurbishing my old content too because in this period of time what has happened is I've gained a lot of followers because everybody is at home right now. So for all this new followers, what I'm doing is I'm posting my old content and then I'm posting new content too. So there's a difference of like, you know, if I'm posting four videos a week, I'm posting probably two for my older content and two for my viewer. And I've realized my older content, they're doing better than the ones that I'm making right now. Because the whole viewer audience might not have consumed or seen possibly the old content and for them it's as good as new. Exactly, exactly. And I've been doing this for six years so I don't think I'm going to have enough content to survive this lockdown. Yeah, it's been fun. I'm enjoying the process. I'm learning new things. I'm having fun. Larisa, I know you also make a lot of travel vlogs so that has completely stopped for you. You are on mute. You'll have to unmute yourself. Yeah, but still making beauty videos, sitting at home, make up tutorials, those would have still been easier. But how are you coping right now creating content? I am actually trying to expand my genre now. Definitely, you know that I do a lot of travel and that's like my major genre. But I've always kept like a balance of other lifestyle things also. So beauty and fashion, all those things were always there and also like a lot of art. So I haven't had the chance to do all of this while I was travelling. Although this is a part of me and this is how I started my YouTube journey by doing DIY projects and things like that. So because I'm home now I have the opportunity to do all of those again and people are loving it. And I think right now everybody is picking on two different things and being diverse. Everybody is becoming a chef, everybody is doing a workout and everybody is enjoying it. I think the audience has also gotten very sensitive towards content creators also like most of the audience. And they are accepting different genres as well. So I think it's also very important that since I've always built my brand as Larissa Disa, not just travel videos. I think that has helped as well. So whatever content I'm putting out the people are loving it. And it has definitely because like Nikunj said, because people are at home they are watching a lot of stuff. There's a lot of consumption of social media and followers are increasing like crazy. So I think during this time especially it's better if we create more and more content and it's possible because we're at home. And that will, I think it's a time to create a mark on the audience and to create a mark in the industry also. So I think we all should be utilising it very well. Yeah, yeah. So Ghani coming to you, you know for primarily people who have been started their journey from digital platforms. And I know that initially you also started creating content on your YouTube channel. And before you started making huge massive large scale music videos. But I mean for you, it's not, you can't technically right now go out and produce music videos. And so you can still create songs sitting at home. You can still dub songs sitting at home. But how are you seeing right now? I mean obviously you have a pressure that you can't be putting out music videos every now and then. And how are you maintaining, how are you just being active on the Instagram and the other platforms? Like Alissa said, I mean people are, everyone's doing cooking. People are, you know, making, they're updating about their own lives in general. So that's what I'm doing on social media. I can't do YouTube videos on, you know, since I don't create that much content. I'm just, you know, a Singapore musician. So for me doing a music video every week doesn't make sense. So I tried to, so we did this one song called, I think in the start of quarantine. I recorded at home, we shot it at home. But music videos, when you watch them, you want that larger than life. You want to see something, you want to see a story. And that's not possible to shoot at home. So, you know, we try to, but right now I'm just waiting it out and, you know, trying to do those little cooking and your, you know, makeup videos and all of that stuff, you know, from my audience. Primarily on your Instagram platform. Yeah. Just on a personal level to engage with the audience. I can see the fancy YouTube plates very well. I didn't realize this is the only place in my room which has light, you know. Super. Nikhil, how are you? I know, again, like I said, possibly amongst everyone on the panel, you are the only person still on the road creating content, thankfully staying safe. And how has it done the current time for you? To be honest, when I came back from London and the first log in was announced to 1.0, I was like, it's a little bit, it's a 21 days break. Let me not do anything. Let me just relax, walk out, lose weight, transformation and all that. But then I realized that as a YouTuber and I produce so much of content, I'm so much addicted to shoot anything, you know, and just be in front of the camera. But then in one minute when I'm running and if you just shoot something, but like others, I live alone. Like there's nobody in my house. Okay. So I was like, hey, so what can I do? What can I possibly do? So I started talking about lockdown and then I went back to my old videos. I was doing my old video review and then I noticed like for everyone else, the subscriber was increasing. And I realized that this is the perfect time to do something new. Because as a vlogger, our job is to make a connection with the audience. And this is the best time. Everybody's at home and they're forced to listen to me. I won't listen to them because I have nothing else to do. That is what I tell them to follow me. Sorry? I won't listen to them because I tell them to follow me. Also, I think because they are locked up and this is possibly one of the only ways for them to get entertained. See a lot of content right now. Super. Akul sir, just I think before you answer this question, I want you to tell me personally, I wanted to know that you have been running your own business and it's very, very, we don't see a lot of examples where people change their career path at the age of 40, 45 because people think more like when you're in 20s or 30s, that's the right time to decide what you want to do. But I just want you to first tell the story from being a computer engineer to running your own business and then said, you know what, I want to be stand-up comedy and leave everything apart. Yeah, so actually for people who don't know, I was the CEO of an IT company for close to like 25 years. So at the age of 44, you could call it midlife crisis or probably pressure from wife. As she said, do something more. So it was a new year resolution, first giant 2012. I said, I want to do something different with my life. So I signed up for a comedy open mic night. I was the funny guy in my friend's circle and all that. So I said, you know, people say you're very funny or very original. And I need to try a hand at stand-up comedy. So the stand-up comedy, you know, I had just come in very new. This is eight years back. And yeah, so I just went up for an open mic. I did very well there. And from there, you know, the first time from, you know, 25 years working in Laidikam, you know, coming on stage meeting clients and some of you are already stage performers. So you would know that going on stage and, you know, entertaining. So I got really addicted to it. And for four years, I did both my CEO Guinea as well as stand-up comedy. Then in 2016, I gave it all and became a full-time stand-up comedian. So that is my small short journey from CEO to as a safe CEO from chief executive officer to chief entertainment officer, CEO to CEO. And lockdown has actually been good for me. So actually just like Nikhil even I was actually in Toronto. I had a full one month tour of 18 cities in Canada and America starting from 13th March to 13th April. So I reached there on 11th March in Toronto with Mr. Donald Trump's assurance that it's just a flu which will go away in five days. So I reached there and then in front of my eyes, everything crashed. I came back on 14th March. My entire tour was cancelled. All shows are cancelled. And as I probably quickly realized that stand-up comedy, I think as a genre would be the last to start. You know, first they'll start Bollywood. They'll start other things, you know, because anyway, the government doesn't like us because we talk very anti-government and if it don't like us. So we'll go to the last. So we had to go something at home. So I started doing these things called only positive news. So what happened from 11th to 13th March when I was at home in Toronto and watching entire world crashing, you know, closing down borders, closing down. I consider myself to be a very strong person mentally. But I was feeling anxious. I was feeling worried. I think it's the end of the world. So I started doing this. So I came back on Indian 14th March and from 15th March, every day I said, let me search for any positive news happening around. So I started the series called only positive news. And I think yesterday was a 74th episode. I do it every day. Eight, 10 minute segment of I just searched only positive news around the world and say it in my own stupid way. And I did that. So actually, because it gave me a lot of routine to the day because me being an old man from an X thing, you know, I can't be sitting at home like a lot of the young content creators, you know, just, you know, I like to get up at eight o'clock and read my newspaper and do my work. So that gave me actually some kind of normal, you know, got normalcy to my own routine. So I have been, I mean, I also did a lot of other small scale. So I was, because we ask as comedians, we are never too much on social media. We only use it to connect with your fans and, you know, honestly to sell tickets. You don't create content for, for Instagram. Like, you know, like how Nick Wins does or how, you know, Nick Hill does or most of you are, you know, and to travel and other blogging. So for me, it was difficult, but I quickly learned it. I learned two days. I learned an editing software and I started editing my software and I think all that, but I've been very, very happy and lucky. Thanks to these, the topics, I got some few brand deals also on my only positive news. And yeah, I think I'm quite, in fact, I'm worried if the lockdown will end, if people go out, we'll sit at home and watch our content. I felt the same. But do you feel, but do you personally feel the pressure, like when you said, because you're a stand-up comedian, right? And the entire motive is to go and, and the kick is to do live gigs. Yeah. But do you feel the pressure of getting numbers on Instagram or all your other platforms? Because for that, you will have to create content. You will have to create regular content. Yeah, yeah. So I think you have to create regular content. So not really, there's not a pressure. See, I think all creators are generally like a thing that if you go out searching for followers, then they won't come. If you do something which is close to your heart, which you really enjoy doing it, because other, the followers can easily know whether you're doing it or you're really true to your heart. So I think I've also added quite a, I've added close to 25,000 followers just in the lockdown and very quickly. And, and that was because my only positive news, I came from the heart. It isn't my own style. And also other than that, quickly we have started learning to do zoom calls. So I've like, every Friday I have a 10 p.m. like a comedy show that's getting in hundred people selling tickets. So that's how we are making money because as I said, we, comedians will have to get used to this format of doing comedy over here because we're going to start last maybe, I don't know. Whenever the, I think only when a vaccine really comes out will people really be, you know, going to sit in a crowded room and watch us. Yeah, that was my question for the latest stage about the live gigs, but we can pick it up right now. Do you, do you, I mean, especially I think with Bunny and you and who are very active into doing college gigs or corporate gigs. Going to them, I know the rest of Nikhil, Nikunj and Larissa also, they also engage in a lot of college events, but those are not primarily their revenue drivers, right? Their revenues, primarily right now as of now, does not, I mean, they don't go and sell their meat and meat buses or they, most of them don't go and bill for the corporate, sorry, the college gigs. But for you and Dhwani, right, live is a big part of your revenues and with the uncertainty which is there right now, you never, you don't know when the live gigs are going to start. Do you think the home gigs, like Atul, you said you have been doing home gigs right now, are you selling tickets? Do you think people are coming and buying tickets and that's a habit which we might see in the post-corona days also? This is, this will be learning for all of us, right? I mean, because Larissa also does on-ground makeup workshops and he can evaluate now, if he can move that business completely online and do online workshops, online master classes, Nikunjan Shar will come up with few ideas and he's right now really active in diversifying his revenues into different other businesses also, he's a business running in New York already. And yeah, so you just want to take us through with your experience doing these live gigs as of now. Yeah, so honestly doing live gigs on Zoom was a challenge because you know when you're running a musician where you can sing, you know we as a comedian I want to hear the laughter, I want to see people laugh, it cannot be I need the mics to be on, I need the videos to be on and what happens when you have a lot of videos and mics on then somebody's blender is going behind, somebody's having food, somebody's talking to his child or child is coming, interrupting, so those are the challenges initially of trying to the technology part of getting used and now it felt like we're going back to our open mic days where you're actually trying something new so that was one challenge but now we have figured it out, like I've been getting I've entertained I think close to like 1000 people already on Zoom right now and I'm enjoying it, more the fact that so we keep 25-30 videos on mics, let's tell people that you mute it if you're sitting in a noisy area so setting the expect telling, educating the audience right in the beginning that this is going to work, but I think as Dhoni will also probably agree nothing like a live performance we're all waiting to go back on stage that's a different side of you can engage, we just have to do live, you can at least see the amount of people that are there 1000 people or 100 people I just have to go live and I don't even know like how many people are watching you, how many people are watching and what's happening so that gets a little weird and there's no revenue out of it, I mean just like brands have started to get in touch and stuff, but there's no real there's no real there's no real, no no I'm sure he's doing a ticketed thing but I'm not have you done any online events right now in the past few months I mean since the lockdown started you're asking me no Dhoni, Dhoni so I did a lot of lives with different porters and stuff and my own thing and I did with Vodafone and Wink and stuff so some of most of them are free so you can't there's no revenue out of it that gets a little difficult do you think right now that's a future which can hold in terms of live events concerts for musicians I know obviously everyone loves going to a ground and interacting with the audience but do you think that's an habit which people can develop over a period of time that they can just sit at home buy tickets to what concerts do you see that as a trend? I feel like the experience would be totally different and I do not anchorate something like that but given the circumstances I mean that's something you know that will have to be inculcated and you know you can't because we are in corona right now you can't have public gatherings so might as well you know have a set up like that it should start because then revenue for musicians and you know people gets really difficult to generate because we rely on shows yeah and I think as a consumer also while you are going to see the performer while you are going to see the content but it's the experience also yeah that's more important you know Nikhil do you have you seen I don't want you to mention just about your own brand deal but as an industry have you seen a slow down or have you seen an uptake in the brand deals in the last 2-3 months because suddenly I have started getting a lot of calls from brands and agencies because practically the only people who can still create ads who can still create branded content sitting at home are digital influencers because they are so used to they already have their lights they already have a camera they already know how to edit the videos which they are struggling while dealing with Bollywood stars also because they don't yeah without making it any controversial but yeah so Nikhil have you seen any uptake in the brand deals or have you seen a slow down just like the rest of the industry for the lockdown 1.0 there was a slow down but then I think after lockdown 2.0 work has been great we can see new kind of works coming not the first most of the work were like you know about stuff now it's different now it's mostly digital so you can say 20% them but not much because we create so much of content that's not an issue but yeah we are seeing a change we are seeing a different change which is good or bad that I can say if I if I sound selfish then I would say that digital media for youtubers and for instagramers it's a great news because we can create content selfish sitting at home sitting in the car anywhere and for vloggers especially we can the whole story whole script revolves around my day only I just have to make my day little bit interesting and everything and fit in no yeah Nikunj how are the brand deals or overall revenues in last month I think the amount of work has increased revenue wise also but you know the amount that we used to get generally for a video has dipped down a bit but the number of work has increased that's what has happened for me at least thankfully we got a lot of work and there is a lot of work piled up and I have seen a lot of new brands trying this initially there were only a set of brands which used to do digital marketing in the recent past I have worked with a lot of new brands and they have enjoyed this I guess they have seen the change of trying digital media and getting that probably getting that reach for instance I recently promoted an app which kind of you know after my video coming out the app was trending number one on iOS for like a week so they they kind of love doing it there are a lot of new coming brands which are coming right now which is best I guess initially the brands which used to come are the only ones which used to come they are not specifically for you and I kind of see this increasing because I think they should by now get to know that you know Shahrukh Khan is promoting Sandro I am sure everybody knows he is not the Ryan Sandro and someone like me or Nikhil not Nikhil I am sure everybody knows he is not the Ryan Sandro Nikhil Nikhil you are on mute I am driving a Hyundai car I think also what has happened is a lot of brands digital marketing was just an option or they were exploring it has now become a mandatory thing because they can only spend they can do right now they can't do there is no use for them to go and spend I mean I remember the time probably like you know I started like 6 years ago YouTube used to send us on this thing called speed dating to the brands and we used to sit with the brands and tell them what digital marketing is so it will come a long way from then Lalisa how was it for you in terms of the last three months compared to how it was earlier it is definitely not the same as before and brands are very particular to who they are working with so because I think their budgets have all gone down and like he said I mean everybody is like there is no budget now so we have to settle for a lower cost but what I have seen the kind of change I have seen is that brands are working with lesser creators now they are being very picky and very choosy when it comes to their work they are also doing ads through creators so like I recently did an ad for a sanitary brand and like the whole production was supposed to be done by me and it was like a proper ad that they wanted for their stuff so you know I think I don't know how I should put it but I think brands know who they have to work with at this time to get the proper return on investment so I don't know about the others but it's all right, 20% dip like Nikhil said but work has increased definitely because right now like I said we have to make a mark our unbranded stuff is more but revenue wise so it's all right nothing like bad but nothing great either I think thankfully all of you guys are in that field every field is every industry is affected but possibly this is the field which is least affected between brands and we are all of us are very lucky so it has not impacted in terms of revenues Nikhil Larisa like have you guys seen I'm not talking about the youtube adsense revenue as a community so we are keeping this question limited to the brand deals because we all know how that has affected a little more than 20% one is clearly promoting youtube right now now I can see both the youtube no I can see the gold silver play but it's a better frame now usually I have to wear a youtube t-shirt not a t-shirt just a t-shirt and you are done the next time we have a chat the next time we have a chat I make big music videos I don't create a lot of content I don't make a lot of youtube videos the only place in my room that gets light and this doesn't impact me anymore I'm fully stuck this is the first time I'm meeting Dhoni but you know a year ago someone made a meme on me where I took off my beard and placed Dhoni in front of me I remember I was so hilarious I was true to it someone just made it but I felt shit we look alike I'll never shave Dhoni are you actively doing brand deals right now I know there have been brand integrations in your music videos earlier brand deals I know you can't do those deals right now because you are not producing full-fledged music videos but are you engaging with brands on instagram are you engaging with brands on instagram I'm open to that and it's happening also but I'm not doing like I did Vodafone but since I don't do a regular video in terms of youtube and stuff I'm not like a full-fledged influencer so that is not as much as these guys do but I'm open to this and it's happening like on instagram and the small deals how many followers do you have on instagram right now 2.7 million 2.7 and on youtube 1.49 million something Dhoni just saying I'm not actively doing 2.7 million 2.7 million and 1.7 million and 2 plates from youtube at the back I'm going to remove the only now but I'm glad that you have put up that mic for the finale unpaid gig performance that you are going to do that is not going to happen I realize 2.7 million is more than anybody in this zoom call right now on instagram yeah thanks man I don't know anything sir I mean has brand deals been you have been doing actively brand deals I know you do a lot of branded corporate shows but beyond on-ground performances have you been doing brand deals in the past and if yes how are the last 3 months been how has your experience been dealing with brand deals so for me primarily I'm a live artist so my revenues earlier used to come from branded corporate shows and also the public shows and the tours which used to do and brand was a very small component of it you know the branded I would say social media deals used to be very small but now since covid obviously that percentage has become slightly more and obviously my live work has come but coming to what everybody I can see that when I speak to my team who handles my brand work they say that first of all you see a lot of brands are pulled out because of the uncertainty about not knowing how their own internal their markets is number one number two the approval processes have become longer so earlier if it used to be the agency and probably the marketing head would decide now it's going right to the CEO who is saying I want to see every penny we are spending in this pandemic yeah this is happening like the return of like you know to get back to you it takes too much taking a lot of time and I also see like for example like one of the biggest spenders I think is because of surrogate marketing used to be alcohol company they have actually pulled out you know at least most of them have pulled out because for three months their shops were closed and things like that now hopefully now with alcohol opening up and you know maybe the festivities hopefully we should maybe see those coming up because yeah yeah what other industries like possibly also know about this like people are not going out at least during the lockdown time to go and buy our bikes or going and buying our cars so I think in addition to alcohol possibly all other industries which are not into essential items have obviously seen a drop in their avenues and obviously it doesn't make sense for them to start spending our monies okay my another question which I wanted to ask is now during these times right there is so much of a social responsibility on each one of you to engage into right meaningful conversations with the fans with the people you have and obviously there's a pressure about that also there are causes that you want to speak about but you see so many things which are not being done in a right way throughout the world and you want to participate in those in those times but every individual can't be talking about 20 topics 30 topics right even if you choose a topic to support you will also get a backlash that why you're not talking about topic be your topic see but at the same time you can't just ignore it right you have that responsibility on you to pass on the right messaging especially during how to stay safe during these times how are you inculcating that into your content right now is that your top priority are you thinking what is the kind of communication you want to give to the fans throughout your content Nikul how are you taking care of this I don't know man this is probably like the most difficult thing to do actually for me because you know all my life I've done whatever I felt like doing without saying it out loud because that's what I feel I feel that you're doing charity you should not talk about it and I've done that you know me knows me that you know how much I've done but now the problem is if you don't say anything that means that you're not standing against it you know there are countless things that I'm doing right now too but you know I always feel that if you not talk about it for instance you know something that backfire to me was like you know that I go to LA a lot and I collaborate with the creators out there and whatever is happening there and I kind of shared something from there and people like oh what did you do like you know you know who are you and stuff like that so I'm honestly learning on how to deal with it and you know sometimes I feel that even though you're not doing anything you're doing a lot like you know making people laugh at this time is also a good thing to do he's sharing positive news which is amazing you know I'm going to start doing it right now I'm not seeing it yet but that's exactly that I want to see right now because no matter what you do no matter what you see no matter what you talk to right now is talking about that it's over it's over and it's so negative like the best way to deal with it is to see good positive you know it's to meet positive people you know I remember calling Nikhil a lot and we just discussed content and not like you know whatever is happening right now so I want to be around with people who are very positive I want to share positivity I want to make people laugh and that's I feel that I'm doing my job and I don't want to be told by anyone that you know you're not doing this for that this for that whatever like you know I've done a lot of stuff people who know me know me I do a lot more than anybody who shows out so I'm very content with that like I'm just coping up on how to deal with people who think that I'm not doing for now it's okay for me I'm sure I mean that's very insightful I mean we also deal with what influences it's very tricky right I mean you worldwide there's so many things which which are not right but you can only choose the causes that you want to talk about or like you said support them by not even being vocal on social media and then just do that and I know few of the things that you have done in the past Nikhil but I mean you create almost everyday vlogs right how do you do you do you have that pressure on your mind when you're creating content or you're just really just staying honest with yourself and whatever you want to do see most of the time I create whatever I want to create but there used to be a pressure but then with the time I've stopped caring about what pressure giving me lockdown the thing which I wanted to talk to my audience was about the labours the pain they were going through but then realized that 40% of my video was about the labours and then 2% was about youtube versus tiktok and then the whole conversation was about youtube and tiktok there was nothing about this country let me just not talk about anything let me just do it so what I did I just went to demart and I made this kit if you want to distribute if you want to give money out you can give rations out you know because during this lockdown what we have seen is that the salary people they were not giving salary and they have this thing that they will not ask money from anyone so I had this team they were looking for those such people so we made this kit and per kit cost around 500 rupees I made this whole video and if you don't want to give money to anybody because if you feel like drinking you can do something else get this kit and I am talking about myself I am talking about others so you know you can get this kit and you can give it to whomever you think needs it so this kind of content I am doing sometimes the audience they just want you to talk about it whether you care whether you don't care they don't even care just tell them just tell them usually I try to stay away from religious political matter I don't even say how it works yeah I would like to add here first of all I would request all the audience please first of all don't have too many expectations from us because we are human beings we are also going through animations like I will tell you when this the cyclone unfun happened and I wrote about West Bengal and the next day I started getting hate from Orissa even in Orissa then some guy said the government is taking over to make some power fight why don't you tell me I don't know so just chill guys we are human beings we have also families why are you not donating to charity because I have to feed my family I can't be feeding migrants when I don't feed my own children so the people should realize we also have families, we have lives we are also human beings going through emotions we will talk about it when we want to talk about it we are very passionate about it honestly there is so much fake news I actually talk about the news only after the third day after the read facts and figures and actually something else happened like like when this that unfortunate incident of that Kerala elephant happened within two days it went from an animal to a communal issue and also one more thing which is a fact I have discussed a lot of the comedians even the crowd I think because of the even the audience because of the corona I have become more sensitive there is more hate while coming because they have more free time they have given everyone 4G but they have not given them the demand so people are attacking and things like that so actually some of us are dealing with those issues about how trolling as overall has increased people are just over sensitive you say it's a beautiful day in Bombay somebody will say boss it's hot in somewhere else why the hell are you so happy about a beautiful day but probably I am old so I just say my mind so I don't listen to anybody I am with blind and and I generally don't worry about brands I have to say what I want tomorrow if my brand team says that they don't say something about tiktok versus so and so youtube will get affected tiktok can you imagine we have a really pandemic going on sorry to say but the biggest issue in the last 15 days was youtube versus tiktok I am like bro I remember I had a personal experience this was really funny and this tiktok and then I put it up on facebook and people were like why are you cross posting tiktoks are supposed to go down it's gonna block I am like what is wrong with you I mean it's crazy but Dhoni what do you feel about the again if you have spoken about this topic and not to not to detail it out further but not talking about particular platforms every platform has their own audiences every platform there are different kinds of content being made on every platform do you think there can ever be a deficit or about a good content or a bad content like people are saying that content is not good enough Nikunji is very keen to I think answer these questions I am just trying to listen this bad network but I am just saying as content creators all of you guys do you think there is a line where somebody can say this is a good content this is a bad content it's pretty much subjective I mean you can never say what is good content or bad content of course there are like guidelines to what you can do there is a limit to what you can do but it can never be like some people might like some content some people might not it's never like I don't like it unless something like I think I think India as a whole has a very big population so there is an audience for literally everything and I think that's the best part about it so that is the reason why social media we started doing things on social media because we were accepted as we were so I think that's been a plus point for all of us and although I personally feel that everybody has gotten onto the TikTok bandwagon suddenly because of the lockdown and everybody is interested I have also it does help to get an audience to your YouTube and your Instagram so I have been using it it's a very creative platform I totally agree and it doesn't just have cringy stuff it has a lot of educational stuff a lot of hacks a lot of cool things on TikTok but I somehow feel that I mean if you are making a video on TikTok the same thing shouldn't go on Instagram and the same thing shouldn't go on YouTube I mean every platform has its own beauty and I think it should stay like that because TikTok is more of like quick things and that's the whole thing because we are scrolling continuously and that makes more sense because you know there is no feed as such I mean there is a feed but TikTok is more about like just scrolling scrolling going through a lot of stuff from everybody and Instagram is not about that Instagram is more about community building and it's about a particular person and the brand that person is built around him or her and you know just posting something on TikTok and then posting the same thing on Instagram doesn't really make sense because Instagram is not built for the kind of that's on TikTok I feel this and I've been following that sure Nikunj I mean from your point of view I know see again I don't want to make it this about YouTube and TikTok this is not about that this is about different platforms it can be Instagram it can be YouTube versus Instagram it can be YouTube versus Twitter but I know that you create different content for different platforms but is that a focus area or you are okay repurposing the content and just putting it out on different platforms I'll tell you what no matter how much you hate the platform which I do by the way honestly I don't like it because there's a lot of cringe in it I hate the platform but I hate the cringe which is there in the platform I love like TikTok which is doing in US like you know I was in LA for a month and you know all the artists that I wanted to collaborate with saying you know all the biggest artists all the comedians that I kind of grew up watching saying Tim Bass, Adam and all you know I reached out to them and they were like let's do something on TikTok I was like what you want to do a video with me on TikTok and everybody is on TikTok right now I was in Anaheim last year for VidCon and the biggest topic on VidCon was TikTok and I heard like someone got paid a million dollar to post a 15 second video on TikTok think for it now a million dollar no matter who it is even if he's like the biggest actor in the world but getting paid a million dollar for a 15 second video is damn it's a lot and I've been doing a lot when I was there I did a lot of TikTok and I kind of gained a lot of audience from the west so I'm trying to concentrate you know I'm making different content on Instagram on YouTube and on TikTok I'm concentrating on comedy from the west because I think it's it kind of gives me a kick because you have done a lot I've been doing this for the past 6 years and I'm not saying it's not exciting but I kind of miss the hustle you know I kind of miss posting a video and thinking about whether it will do well or no you know just constantly watching a video what if it doesn't do well that feeling that is the feeling that I've missed you so I'm trying to concentrate that's what I'm doing on TikTok that's about it sure but do you create separate content on TikTok right now? yeah I do Nikhil what about you Nikhil is getting into TikTok by the way yeah right for me there is no love or hate for TikTok I just don't like the way it works I'm very happy with YouTube when I'm satisfied with Instagram and I don't have no problem people creating videos on TikTok see it's your personal choice if you like TikTok go create videos over there and if you don't like TikTok don't create videos over there and it's your ID upload it on YouTube whatever you want to do you will find your people we have 140 crore people we have 3 cities whatever you want to see at the end of the day what matters is how long you will sustain because there is going to be a saturation point TikTok's saturation point comes very fast YouTube's saturation point doesn't come because there is a lot of work involved let me give you an example there is a gym you will take a year to make a decent body there is a gym too you will take 3 days to make a decent body but then you will have no value for that decent body I think I will give you an example 3 days TikTok is like if you make a good video you will go viral then what they do to make connections you have to again come on Instagram so I think the TikTokers who are doing well they eventually have to come on YouTube and Instagram but the YouTubers who are doing well they don't have to necessarily go on TikTok or Instagram my definition is for me if you have to call yourself a creator and at this joke somewhere what if suddenly Instagram is banned boom you are not a model anymore eh you should be a creator in every that is what I feel I know if everything starts right now I can still create a good story I can be a writer, I can be an actor I direct my own stuff I can do some kind of work anywhere in the industry that I am created that is what I feel that is absolutely right I totally agree with Neh Kunj long long ago when we all started our videos by recording them ourselves we have been the production person we have been directors, we have been writers we have been through it all and I think the ones who are creative only are actually surviving at this moment during this lockdown because they know that if the lockdown is alone then we can still make content they have that confidence in themselves so I think if a kind of platform or anything if a person is if a creator is creative enough knows their stuff and especially since we have done it for so many years we know what works so I think that is the best thing about just I forgot what the question was I think like Nikhil rightly said it just staying honest to what you want to do if you love a platform just create content if you don't like it don't create content that's it and there's an audience on every platform Atul do you also try to study all of these which are the platforms that I should be do you go into analytics do you go and absorb all of these platforms that I should be creative everywhere do you feel that pressure on you? there is no pressure like I'm not on TikTok with my kind of format with my kind of age also I don't know who will watch you on TikTok you will be surprised you will have a middle audience right now I'm not on TikTok and I have seen every platform has its own audience has its own things for example I'll tell you my only positive is a very big hit on Instagram and Facebook some on YouTube people are not liking YouTube my audience wants my stand-up videos they want like an 8 minute stand-up clip they don't want to basically gyaan nahi chiun ko that's the thing so every audience platform I think has its own nuances and you have to play that platform accordingly it's great if your material can work across all the platforms that's actually a very good thing I think let's shift it from TikTok to Tinder sorry I think we just got a message from them we just have 5 minutes left I didn't even know my last question which is a very cliche question but I still would ask because I know all of you guys and I know how everyone of each one of you have really hustled and worked really hard over the last few years and made a mark and completely on your own for all the aspiring creators even if they are 15 or if they are 40 who want to get into this game do you want to convey a message to them how has your journey been and what are the things they should be doing to just follow your roadmap and probably come closer to what you can do for example for Nikhil personally what Nikhil has done in the vlogging space years back I'm sure Nikunj will agree with me years back nobody was taking vlogging as a serious career in the space people were looking at a lot of people in the west who were big bloggers out there who were Indian bloggers so they never took it seriously that this can be considered as a full fledged career but what he has done has inspired so many people to now take vlogging as a career previously I think years back people just used to say it as a hobby or not as a profession as such do you have a message all of you guys just one two liners we have just four minutes left Nikhil let's start with you see if anybody wants to start a career on this platform is it simple or do your research ask yourself what you like to do and just start you will fail not many people know this vlogging was not my first youtube channel it was something else so you will fail and then you will succeed and then you will find the right spot for you keep trying do you have a message I just want to say I just want to say I am a singer I started with youtube you guys helped me a lot my first video I did this carpool mashup and I came to you guys then the journey started from there so I think you just need to believe in yourself that you can do a certain thing just have that confidence in you and keep practicing keep getting better on a daily basis I just took it by the day and maybe that will help you because everyone has their own paths I can't tell you what works for me your story is going to be completely different no I know obviously with the excess of resources and what you want to do with the passion area you can't sideline the hustle and the hard work because when I know in your case in those times also when you were launching your first music videos but you start your day at 7-8 in the morning and go through so many you have to train you have to figure what you are good at where your tone lies and what you can do with your voice where you can stand if you want to be a pop star or if you want to just be a playback singer you have to figure that all of that out Mr. Bijunik I think the most important thing is to be unique as long as you are okay see I feel it's quite different for me I had my ethics and my morals in the start when I started when I thought about making this I knew how to grow faster but I didn't want to choose that part I chose the longer part because I wanted to be in this for a longer time be my style I don't watch a lot of content actually I don't watch content at all because I feel there are only two things that can happen if you watch content if you don't like it and you see what the f**k is working in this era why are people watching this which is not going to help me is that if I like it a lot even if I don't want to my subconscious mind start to imitate it I started making videos that's when I realised I should stop watching today and the most important thing is to start there if I go back on time I realised that the first video that I made on BUNIC was shot and I edited 3 months ago and I showed it to people and they said it was not good enough and then one day I got done and I posted it it has 3 million users right now but I realised I wasted those 3 months listening to people who don't know because nobody knows anything about anything you just have to post content don't do a lot of research and I am sure there is also a way to go about it but I think you should like doing it have fun while doing it because when you have fun people see that people can see it from your face but you are having fun doing it and you are not just doing it to get the views you are not just stressed about what people like and the one get away is a simple question if this video comes on your feed and you are in it, would you laugh I make funny videos that's what I am saying would you have fun, would you watch it would you laugh if the answer is yes, then make it and post it I am sure you will find your audience sure, Larisa I think right now if someone has to become a creator like right now who wants to start a career with content creation they have to be actually out of the box and create something really unique because there are so many already and to be out there and to make a mark you need to be something very different and offer something different for the audience because beauty creators are amazing vloggers are amazing travelers are amazing so I think the only way to do that is to put your own style to it and many people forget that and they try to copy others that's what even I did in the beginning of my youtube and now they are just like super cringy weird videos but I realized when I started adding my own style to it, that's when people started loving it more even in my vlogs and even in my videos there is a little bit of humor in it and that is what people connected to more than just being the typical girly girl, I am not like that so people actually started liking who I was after I started putting my own essence to it so I think adding your own masala and you know doing your own thing adding your style to it as cliched as it may sound is super important and second would be being super consistent obviously and right now I think with this time posting every single day is advisable no I think absolutely true if you are looking up to someone and start creating content in that space you can't fake it for long someday you will lose that essence and people will figure it out one more thing is collaborate a lot the best example is mostly same method Prajakta did it the best collaborate with whoever has a similar vision with you but just collaborate a lot yeah yeah that role works and I also have to add to what Nikunj said about you know growing fast and how I think most of us know and what will go viral we all know it but we don't want to do it because that's not our style so I think that is also very important that if you are going viral then that viral virality has to stay there so if that doesn't work then you are gone like you come up and just like you are there and gone so I think to create an impact you might be back but I am saying yeah you can't be known you might be back Pooja is alive sir I mean what is your message not only for young creators but not to say you are old but I am just saying people in the 40-50 year old segment also who still might be very passionate but probably just because of the society pressure they would have figured out you are talking about yourself or what good people you are talking about yourself I am younger than you I am older than all of you guys but anyway I would say that first of all first of all follow your passion be true to yourself be original I think the key word is especially in comedy don't try to copy comedians from the west and try to bring it here be very original at least for comedy I tell people come out and watch live stand up comedy don't watch comedy on Netflix with some you know Bill Burr is doing or some Dave Sheppell is doing in an American or UK context see what Indian comedians are doing more from a comedy perspective and also for creators the entry level barriers are very less to be very honest all of us have started with just a phone and recording things at home people where are examples of just people shooting from a phone started all with a phone camera and blue and just it was our own imagination our writing which you know where we are today so I think entry level barriers are less but be original be consistent be very true to yourself and I said don't do what excites you not what you will get your followers and followers will automatically that's right I think this was very insightful it was very insightful for me everyone who was watching it also you guys are each one of you are fairly active in doing Instagram live for me it was the first time doing a webinar not sitting at a conference and doing it well I hope but it was fun we had fun can't wait to see the person just few weeks more all Instagram followers of Dhani please come to us also go you just have to imagine me without the beard you just have to imagine me without the beard I cannot unsee that anymore I am not sure but just imagine me without the beard and follow me I cannot unsee that I will tell you the kitchen I will find it somewhere I saw that and I was like what I will get the e-forum team to put it on the article no we will be revising again super thank you so much thank you thank you Larissa thank you bye thank you bye