Why ShareChat Stopped Chasing Instagram And Bet Big On Microdramas |
Why ShareChat Stopped Chasing Instagram And Bet Big On Microdramas
ShareChat has moved from chasing Instagram-like scale to building a profitability-first model anchored in microdrama and ad monetisation
After fixing broken unit economics and cutting losses, ShareChat is betting on a freemium microdrama strategy to drive growth beyond its stagnating social networking core
In a rare admission, its leadership concedes competing with Meta and YouTube is futile, shifting focus instead to sustainable growth within a niche, vernacular ecosystem
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It takes years of experience of navigating through waves of market trends, economic cycles, investor scrutiny, pivots and P&L maths before a founder admits that somewhere things went wrong, as ShareChat cofounder and CFO Manohar Charan says today.
“We tried the replacement angle. And finally realised that network effects were too strong. Comparing our scale, capital and tech to Silicon Valley giants is like comparing chalk and cheese. You can’t take Meta or Google head on. You can’t say I’ll do the same thing and beat you at it,” Charan told Inc42 in a recent chat.
“We tried the replacement angle. And finally realised that network effects were too strong. Comparing our scale, capital and tech to Silicon Valley giants is like comparing chalk and cheese. You can’t take Meta or Google head on. You can’t say I’ll do the same thing and beat you at it,” Charan told Inc42 in a recent chat.
One of the earliest contenders from India looking to create a homegrown social media platform, it’s been more than a decade since ShareChat emerged in 2015 as an Indian regional language alternative to Facebook and Twitter.
After inching forward and gaining users in the first five years, ShareChat was about to realise that competing with Silicon Valley giants was no small task — not to mention Chinese behemoth TikTok, which was already a sensation in India by 2019.
But then in 2020, the Indian government’s ban on TikTok, gave a new impetus to Indian social media apps. Short video was the flavour of the year then and more than a dozen Indian apps gained prominence overnight. ShareChat’s Moj was one of them.
Since that momentous ban and the growth months that followed though, the story of Indian short video apps has been a story of attrition.
Despite raising over $1.3 Bn over its lifetime from the likes of Google, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Temasek, ShareChat is stepping into the today’s age of AI with something completely new.
So when the startup’s CFO says what investors and analysts had been whispering in private for a while, it is time to take notice.
Charan’s admission shows that ShareChat is reinventing itself again. He says that this is the time for another big push.
This reinvention comes on the back of the company crossing the ₹1,000 crore revenue mark for FY26, the CFO said, with nine consecutive months of positive cash flow under that topline figure. And while ShareChat is still a social media company, it has its radar turned to micro dramas rather than creator-led content and aping Instagram or TikTok.
This reinvention comes on the back of the company crossing the ₹1,000 crore revenue mark for FY26, the CFO said, with nine consecutive months of positive cash flow under that topline figure. And while ShareChat is still a social media company, it has its radar turned to micro dramas rather than creator-led content and aping Instagram or TikTok.
How ShareChat Stopped Burning........