ShareChat’s Moj says investing in tools, features and expanding creator base

Moj, a short video app by social media platform ShareChat, on Thursday said it is investing in offering new tools to help creators develop content and engage audiences across the country.

Moj debuted on Play Store on July 1, two days after the Indian government had banned 59 apps with Chinese linkages, including TikTok.

"Our teams developed the app in 30 hours. And within a short period of time, we have garnered more than 50 million downloads," ShareChat co-founder and COO Farid Ahsan told PTI.

He added that Moj has an average of over 2.8 million users creating about 2.5 lakh new videos every day, and users had consumed over 3.4 billion minutes of video play in the first month itself.

"We are now investing in providing creators more tools to help them create engaging content. We are investing in grooming them, putting them in touch with global creators to grow further," he said.

Ahsan, however, declined to comment on the budget earmarked, stating the situation is dynamic and the company will make the investment necessary for these efforts.

He noted that the focus is on building and expanding the creator ecosystem on the platform, powered by technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Moj will look to encourage and grow high-quality creator talent on the platform by offering creators all kinds of assistance like workshops, training etc to help them succeed on the platform, he added.

Ahsan said a large chunk of the Moj's userbase is from the top 10 Indian cities.

He added that Moj will look at commencing monetisation efforts from next month, and will help creators engage with brands as well.

The company is also in discussions with various music labels to expand its library and is also hiring staff as it expands its operations.

"ShareChat had laid off staff as the pandemic brought in challenges. However, we brought back 50% of those overnight as we started working on Moj," he said.

Homegrown apps like ShareChat, Roposo and Chingari have seen a significant growth in downloads and user signups on their platforms after the government banned a number of apps with Chinese linkages.

ShareChat has over 400 million registered users and more than 130 million monthly active users across 15 Indian languages. Moj has over 50 million monthly active users currently.