With the need to rapidly cater to an audience with low attention spans and a wide range of programming options, many film and sports stars are creating content for YouTube and social media, expanding beyond the professionally curated work they traditionally produce.
Filmmaker Farah Khan runs a YouTube channel dedicated to food, while Shilpa Shetty has built a strong fitness and wellness brand. Sameera Reddy, with her humorous mom-life videos, has become a case study in vulnerability-driven engagement. Comedians like Bharti Singh and television personalities such as Archana Puran Singh have also leveraged YouTube to showcase behind-the-scenes moments and everyday stories.
Industry experts say celebrities are increasingly turning to standalone content creation because it allows them to take full ownership of their narrative. For years, their visibility was mediated through television interviews, magazines, and traditional media—often filtered through reporters and producers. Digital platforms have removed these gatekeepers. Today, a celebrity can directly communicate with audiences, showcase their personality, and build an unfiltered personal brand.
The logic is very simple and strategic, said Rajni Daswani, chief growth officer - people and business at digital agency SoCheers, adding it gives them creative control, direct audience access, and a stable and new revenue stream, all under their own brand. “For someone like Bharti Singh and Farah Khan, this is business diversification and a natural expansion into paths which are functioning verticals in their career,” she said.
Production costs
But this is absolutely not cheap, Daswani was quick to add. To build and sustain an audience, they need professional productions, consistency, and post-production, or maybe a full-fledged crew. Still, once the momentum is set, the incremental cost goes down while the brand value and monetization scale.
In a recent video on her channel, Khan said running the account was 'empowering.' "I can put out the content I want and let my team know exactly how I want them to shoot and edit," she said.
The audience has moved to social media; hence, it becomes important for content creators to be seen when their audiences are busy scrolling through Instagram and YouTube, said Sahil Chopra, founder and CEO, iCubesWire, an ad tech platform.
Between film launches or upcoming cricket seasons, social media keeps them in the news and connected to their followers. “This shift is happening because the architecture of fame has changed. The old system was linear: a film was released, the audience responded, and the press shaped the narrative. There were long stretches of silence where celebrities virtually disappeared between projects. Today, silence feels like absence, and absence costs attention,” said Keren Benjamin Dias – associate vice-president, brand planning, lead capital Z, White Rivers Media, a digital agency.
Standalone content becomes a way to stay culturally relevant without waiting for a release calendar to dictate its importance, Dias added.
“I like the way everything has been streamlined—the fact that we can monetize our content and how we have access to all of our data in such a clear way,” singer and songwriter Lisa Mishra had said in a YouTube blog on creators functioning as media and entertainment start-ups.
Financial strength
There's a clear financial upside; otherwise, nobody would be putting in this level of effort or giving this much access to their personal lives, their kitchens, their kids, and their daily routines, agreed Harikrishnan Pillai, CEO and co-founder of digital marketing agency TheSmallBigIdea. The initial subscriber base comes easily due to existing fame, and once that traction sustains itself with good content, monetisation follows naturally through ad revenue, brand partnerships, and sponsorships.
Standalone content, especially if it's raw and real, is relatively easier and cheaper to produce, Pillai pointed out. “You're essentially putting a camera in their living room and capturing what they're doing. If they generally have interesting lives, which most celebrities do, it translates to compelling content without massive production budgets.” Compare that to a professionally shot content or a film project, and the cost-to-reach ratio is incredibly favourable, he added.
To be sure, in recent years, a celebrity like George Clooney has earned more money from selling his own alcohol brands than from his movie deals, according to Prof. (Dr.) Anand Mishra, professor of accounting and finance at BITS Law School. Celebrities are trying to follow influencers, as many of them already have mega social media presence along with edgy personalities, he pointed out.
Sahiba Dhandhania, CEO and founder Confluencr, an influencer marketing agency, said the cost of running a digital channel today ranges from ₹50,000–2 lakh per month for a lean crew, editor, and shoot setup and over ₹5–10 lakh for high-end vlogs, scripted formats, or multi-camera series. “Compared to celebrity-scale production costs, that’s pocket change. But the real cost is psychological: Celebs must show up consistently, authentically, and without the luxury of retakes. That’s where many stumble,” Dhandhania said.
Execution realities
Established celebrities enjoy an obvious advantage—instant visibility, mass reach and strong brand equity. Professor Nitika Sharma, assistant professor - marketing, IMI Delhi, said their follower base is large, which gives them immediate scale and lucrative opportunities for partnerships. However, when compared to emerging influencers, they face a unique set of challenges. Influencers often succeed because of their strong community connections. They respond to comments, know their audience intimately, and create highly localised, relatable content. Their engagement is grassroots and emotionally anchored, which builds trust quickly.
Celebrities, in contrast, struggle with that one-to-one connection. According to Smita Gupta- vice-president, artist management at OML, a media and entertainment company, celebrities begin with name recognition, which accelerates reach and discovery. Their existing relationships enable better collaborations, attract larger audiences, and provide premium content opportunities. Their presence across films, TV, and interviews fuels traffic to their digital channels. But audiences expect authenticity from creators, not the guarded, PR-polished version of celebrities.
“Performance is mixed but instructive: some celebrity channels scale fast because of instant discovery and press. Native creators typically convert platform virality into steady, repeatable views because their formats and teams are optimised for short-form algorithms and audience retention strategies. Celebrities often win at reach and headline-making content; creators win at retention, niche community-building, and diversified revenue,” said Aman Narula, chief operating officer, Mad Influence, an influencer marketing agency.
- Celebrities are using digital platforms to eliminate traditional media filters, taking full ownership of their personal brand and narrative.
- YouTube acts as a business vertical, providing a stable revenue stream through ad revenue, sponsorships, and platform monetization that complements sporadic film or sports income.
- In an age of low attention spans, constant digital presence prevents 'absence,' which is now perceived as cultural irrelevance between major projects.
- While quality production requires an investment of ₹50,000 to ₹10 lakh per month, the cost-to-reach ratio remains far superior to traditional film or television advertising.
- Celebrities win on initial discovery and reach, but often struggle against native creators in community building and audience retention.