In conversation with Sattvik Mishra, CEO, ScoopWhoop
In a recent conversation between Sattvik Mishra, Co-Founder & CEO of ScoopWhoop Media Pvt Limited and Agency Reporter’s Ojasvi Nath, we assimilated the success story of the millennial publisher. Mishra speaks about the journey from being informative and entertaining to influential at a scale. Excerpts:
Ojasvi Nath: You have well-established your identity as a millennial publisher in the market where you aimed at young, diverse, and inclusive generation. Now that you have captured the moment, what next big thing are you looking forward to?
Sattvik Mishra: We are looking at expanding into multilingual content. We are already doing great in Hindi with ScoopWhoop Hindi. A substantial part of our user base in Hindi belongs to tier-2 and tier-3 towns. We are also present on new age platforms like Helo and Sharechat. Apart from this, we continue focusing on our non-fiction video programming with Ok Tested (new age experiences, trials, etc.) and Unscripted (new age vox pops, interviews with actors and politicians – Townhall & Off The Record – fresh take on interviews for discerning millennials). Lastly, we have increased focusing on beats like tech, gaming, health, and fitness through video channel as well.
ON: In a way, it was ScoopWhoop that started the listicle trend in India which the other contemporaries followed too later. However, it’s not always easy to tell what sets the publishers apart from one another. How are you innovating differently to set apart yourself in the already jam-packed market?
SM: At the core of ScoopWhoop is discovery. People have always used ScoopWhoop to find the most exciting pop culture stories and content both created and curated by us. Over the years, we became so good at knowing what’s trend-worthy that young people now think of us less as an entertaining ‘listing’ site and more as a brand that discovers and defines what’s cool and what’s uncool.
We are not just informative or entertaining, we are influential at scale – ScoopWhoop has a weekly organic reach of over 20 Mn people and the network spans 30+ social communities across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Helo, ShareChat, Snapchat, Instagram and more.
Today, we are the only media platform that can confidently claim – ‘if it’s on ScoopWhoop its trending’.
ON: Of course, everyone has a set of challenges and crises. There is no harm in accepting the shortcomings and working on it as a true entrepreneur. We would really like to know where did ScoopWhoop fail and how exactly the company tackled the failure, worked on it quite well and came forward as a winner?
SM: We dabbled in news but realized that we should be doing stories that resonate more with the young audience. We then came up with focussed channels like ScoopWhoop Unscripted. It is engaging, and this format is how we look at current affairs and political memes. This has not only been received positively but is very impactful at the same time.
ON: Moving on, please tell us what sort of audience-centric brand solutions you provide to the advertisers considering innovation, differentiation, and ROI all at the same time.
SM: Our approach is to make the brand story relevant and engaging with our audience. For instance, the non-fiction short-form videos on our platform are produced with audience engagement in mind. This includes content presentation, length, and current relevance. These videos have a brand story as the content but are unique in the sense that the story is interesting on its own rather than looking like mundane advertising vehicle. Also, we do smarticle to tell a brand’s story effectively. Here we turn the product message to content but keep an interactive layer which helps the audience (prospective product user) understand the value provided by product at a much deeper level.
ON: Also, what do you think about native advertising that syncs well with web content these days? Why most of the brands still haven’t taken native advertising seriously and how should one practice it ethically without paying heed to too much of brand presence throughout?
SM: Before associating with brand, we ensure:
- There must be a synergy in terms of the audience, it wouldn’t make sense for us or for the brand to use our platform to talk to a totally different audience than the one we cater to.
- Editorially we have a strong voice and space, and we ensure that brands that work with us fit with that space.
- Whatever we create whether for ourselves or for brands needs to meet editorial standards because that’s when we know the content will work on our platform.
I think native advertising is growing. We have seen YoY growth in demand for native advertising. It is something that brands are interested in and as a digital media outlet, it is also our task to educate the brands on the benefit of native advertising.
ON: With even Indian publishers increasing use of technology-enabled approach for smart publishing, how is ScoopWhoop looking at implementation of automation technology? For those who embrace technology-enabled services can look up to lower cost and turnaround time. Agree?
SM: Yes, automation can help companies to eliminate human errors, can look for faster turnaround time and lower the cost of productivity.
ON: Despite being quick with every trend, ScoopWhoop entered the video section a little late but still managed to excel. How exactly that happened? When can we see your separate OTT app, or you will continue to ride on the popularity of other OTT platforms like Netflix in India?
SM: We have a unique approach to content creation across formats. We believe because we were late, it helped us in maintaining the uniqueness as we did not want to copy or follow existing content trends. We had to innovate, and we did something different with the new formats like Unscripted and Ok Tested, etc.
OK Tested – A channel where ScoopWhoop people take on all sorts of challenges and try different new experiences.
ScoopWhoop Unscripted – A Non-fiction channel where we do everything from edgy documentaries to explainers to celebrity town-halls.
We are already in talks with OTT platforms to be part of their channels. Our focus is to build India’s most popular and influential youth content brand and being freely accessible to all is an important part of this vision.
ON: Facebook recently deleted the account of a famous publisher from Insta and Facebook both. Do you think the dependency on such platforms has grown a lot? How is ScoopWhoop taking care of these issues and become a little extra cautious?
SM: Our approach is to recognize what the platform user wants, and we tailor the content according to it. We have a symbiotic relationship with the platform. They provide us reach and we add the value to the platform. We will continue with this simple approach. If our content is good and engaging, we will remain relevant on any platform.