What is Sutradhar Startup all about?
Sutradhar, first of its kind platform dedicated for stories from ancient Indian literature, is a Gurugram-based media content startup. It brings the Indian mythological stories to the smartphone users in the form of short videos and clips, without losing the essence of the story.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a surge in the demand for Indian epics in vernacular media. With Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Shri Krishna series being aired, it topped TRP charts. This is when the startup came into being in 2020, founded by Satish Meena and Gaurav Tiwari. The startup aims to bridge the gaps between how these Indian mythological stories are delivered on a smartphone.
What’s the Purpose of Starting this Startup?
The ancient mythological stories never lose their essence whenever there is a shift in the technology, be it any platform, these stories are remade accordingly. But nothing substantial has been created for the smartphone category. Smartphone users are a distinct category of users who want precise and engaging content in a short video format. Sutradhar app offers short videos of about 2 to 10 minutes where the content is purely based on ancient Indian mythological stories.
In the era of Gen Z and Millennial, there is a huge market of smartphone users. Sutradhar aims to target this 500 million user base by providing content in various languages. The major purpose of creating this application is that there are millions of stories and myths that shape our day-to-day activities. Starting from celebrating festivals to the languages we use; these stories are rooted within Indian minds. These stories being key to our heritage, our culture, it is important to bring them on a platform where it can be easily accessible to the people.
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The ancient mythological stories never lose their essence whenever there is a shift in the technology, be it any platform, these stories are remade accordingly.
How has the Response Been?
Sutradhar mode of channeling is through video formatting and vernacular languages, which help them reach a wider customer base.
The app publishes professionally generated short videos on mythological stories on a daily basis to the smartphone optimized users. Since its launch in October 2020, the app has seen over 100,000 downloads with 50,000 monthly users. It is slowly gaining traction among the people in the 25-45 age group residing in metros, tier II or III cities, who are comfortable with online transactions.
What is the Market Size of Mythological Content in India?
The market space for mythological content creators and providers is very much attractive for investors. Because of the large audience size and increasing smartphone penetration the market for providing such content and developing such apps is very promising.
The religion and spirituality market in India is approximately worth $44 billion and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 10%. There is an opportunity to build a commerce community for selling products and services. As the market is mostly unbranded and unorganized, it opens up a space of creating D2C brands in this category.
Insights for Startups into this Space
The major takeaway from Sutradhar is that it provides content in a short video format and that too in multilingual form. The app is available for android and iPhone users. It also caters through its own website and via YouTube as well. The startup is also planning to expand its content from fictional to other genres of writing.
