We Don’t Want Monetization to Hurt our User’s Experience: Karam Malhotra, SHAREit

• SHAREit has more than 1.8 billion users worldwide, with a presence in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, out of which 500 million users are in India and Indonesia
• Karam Malhotra tells us how did the brand manage to get organic users in India, without marketing campaign and advertisers

SHAREit, which primarily started as a file sharing tool and built its brand purely on the back of word-of-mouth, is now casting its net wider. It is a content discovery, curation, consumption and sharing platform, which is also planning to introduce games soon.

Currently, SHAREit has more than 1.8 billion users worldwide, with a presence in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, out of which 500 million users are in India and Indonesia.

According to Karam Malhotra, CEO, SHAREit India, 40-45% of its user base hails from India, making it one of the most important markets for SHAREit. And in terms of revenue, India contributes to about 15-20% of the global figure. And what is unique about these figures is that the brand has achieved this growth organically; it hasn’t launched a single marketing campaign in any of the countries it is present in.

While SHAREit began monetization on its platform just 8-9 months ago, predominantly through advertisements, Malhotra believes that one needs to be patient to run a business in the Indian market. Small advertising monetization is not a worry for him. SHAREit is concentrating more on user experience and engagement. “We don’t want monetization to hurt our user’s experience,” says Malhotra.

Excerpts:

Q. Monetization on SHAREit began as recently as 6-9 months ago. What has been the main source of income in the past five years?

We have very small ad monetization in India. In the Indian market, we have to be patient to run a business. For us, our priority is user experience and engagement. We don’t want monetization to hurt our user’s experience.

Q. Who is your primary target audience? Who do you want to target next?

SHAREit is spread across India and its concentration is proportional to the population spread of the country. It has a more concentrated user base of about 60-70% in the Tier II and Tier III cities as almost two-thirds of the population resides in these regions. In terms of language, we have tapped the immensely potent and yet untapped non-English speaking audiences by promoting content in regional languages. Only about 15% of our users speak English, while 30-35% users speak Hindi, 18% Telugu, 17% Tamil, 15% Kannada, Malayalam, rest counts for Bhojpuri, Marathi, etc.

In terms of growth, the aim would be to drive a rise in the duration of time people spend on the application through promoting more personalized content. While we would want to retain the audience that we already cater to by providing quality content and exploring newer and more exciting partnerships, we would also target newer avenues in the gaming space to make the consumer experience more engaging.

Q. Curating content or creating it, what do you think works out better?

SHAREit has always been a content sharing application and that is where our expertise lies. Being a content sharing platform, we are exposed to various insights in the consumer’s behavior. We know what people share, and hence understand what they consume. So, instead of breaking the consumer journey of consuming and sharing content from multiple applications, SHAREit makes use of these insights to curate personalized content for users. We do not indulge in content creation as we realize that’s not our strong suit.

Q. SHAREit recently announced its intention to invest in the gaming space in India. Can you walk us through your plan? What is the budget set aside to introduce it on your platform?

Gaming in India is an area that is extremely unexplored. An average gamer spends about 3-5 hours a day on games. With the foray of games like PUBG and Dream11 in India, the gaming sector is extensively evolving in India. Even the outlook towards gaming is changing with more and more people starting to pay for them. Since we aim to become a hub for gaming, we see this as a great opportunity. We’re trying to aggregate games from Korea, China, US, Europe etc. and bring them to India to enhance the consumer experience.

Now we are at the beginning stages and users’ experience is our first priority. Our budget is open and flexible with the market trending and users’ engagement.

Q. What are some of the key campaigns that SHAREit has launched in India and what has been your marketing strategy for the same?

The growth that SHAREit has seen since its inception in India has been completely organic and has not been catalyzed by any marketing campaigns. However, SHAREit’s partnerships and associations with the likes of Viacom, Hungama, ALT Balaji and now Hotstar have paid impressive dividends.

Q. How important is India as a market for SHAREit?

India is one of the most important markets for SHAREit. It has the largest market share for the brand with about 40-45% of the user base from India. South Asia in general is extremely important for the company. About 90% of the users are from South Asia. In terms of revenue, India contributes to about 15-20% to the global figure. Globally, SHAREit has 500 million monthly active users while India boasts a healthy 200 million monthly active users out of a total of about 400 million users.

The evolution of the Indian audience is another aspect that makes it an important market. With ease in availability and lower rates of internet, the content consumption patterns of Indian users have evolved significantly showing more inviting opportunities for content sharing platforms.

Q. After the introduction of video ads, what kind of brands are interested in SHAREit? As you recently introduced video ads, a year down the line, what do you think would attract brands the most?

SHAREit is open to collaborate with all brands that want to reach out to more users. We have more than 1.8 billion users globally and 500 million monthly active users. Our platform enables brands to achieve reach and omni-channel engagement. This includes offline and online actions such as visiting the brand’s website, downloading the app, or related engagements with task-based activities.

Q. Where do you see SHAREit in the next three years?

We always focus on users’ requirements, which bring us an amazing penetration rate in India.

As user requirements shifted especially post reliance Jio, we are now looking to engage with our users and provide them with better service. As a consumer technology company, we are looking to empower our partners to explore our vast user base. We welcome partners to provide their premium service in our platform to meet our users’ requirements.