Was it a thirst for “virality” that led creator Ranveer Allahbadia to say what he said? Industry experts say that audiences who consume controversy, and brands that put their money on “viral” content, have made it harder for authentic content to shine through
Ranveer Allahbadia has put out an apology for his comments and the offensive video has been removed. File pic/Atul Kamble
Did you know what inspired India’s Got Latent (IGL)? It’s a Texas show called Kill Tony, founded in 2013. IGL is pretty much following the Kill Tony format—where a few stand-up comedians perform and get “roasted” intermittently throughout their act, by the hosts and a celebrity guest—just like in the episode Samay Raina hosted with his guest Ranveer Allahbadia.
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Here’s what happened. Allahbadia went where no self-respecting Indian ever goes—talking about their parents’ sex life. The fact that Allahbadia preaches spirituality on his own show, The Ranveer Show, and is a self-confessed Hanuman bhakt, made this error of judgement even worse. Although Allahbadia later admitted, in a public apology the day after the episode was streamed, that “comedy is not his forte”, the damage had been done. “I am just here for an apology. I personally had a lapse in judgement,” he says further in the apology video on Instagram.
Aalap Deboor, founder of Much Much Media, which spreads awareness about neurodivergent disorders. Pic/Shadab Khan
Allahbadia, whose own channel has 10.4 million followers, and an Instagram following 3.4 million, fell prey to an influencer’s biggest dream—to go “viral”. What he thought would generate laughs and help him fit into the show’s format, fell flat. As per analytics tool Social Blade, BeerBiceps lost 90,000 subscribers and the channel named Ranveer Allahbadia lost around one lakh subscribers on YouTube in three days between February 10 and February 12.
On the other hand, Samay Raina, whose show India’s Got Latent, has amassed a largely young following that admires his pluck and no-holds barred approach, gained followers. Raina deleted all videos of India’s Got Latent on February 12, losing an estimated 43.3 crore views on his YouTube channel SamayRainaOfficial. But his accounts on YouTube and Instagram have continued to grow. His YouTube channel added about 80,000 subscribers on February 10, and another 30,000 and 20,000 on the next two consecutive days.
Punit Pania, comic; (right) Neeti Kochhar, founder AudStory Podcast Production
According to various news reports. Allahbadia was approximately earning R35 lakh a month, While Raina is said to earn Rs 1.5 crore monthly from India’s Got Latent.
Raina gaining over Allahbadia could be because even though Raina was hosting the show, he was just doing what he had always done, while Allahbadia steered away from what people had come to connect with him. Sharul Channa, an Indian-born, Singapore-based stand-up comedian, says, “It takes over 10 years to stand in front of an audience and learn what works in a room full of young and old or working population. I feel that what happened with Ranveer is that he is not a comedian—but he was on a show with a bunch of male comedians who have been doing stand-up in all its formats for years, and he felt pressured to sound cool like them.”
On Friday, Allahbadia approached the Supreme Court to quash multiple FIRs against him and has received support from content makers and comedians who have highlighted that singling him out is not fair.
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Compared to the numbers you read above, Much Much Media, which talks of neurodivergence, has 9,6400 subscribers. Aalap Deboor, founder of the Mumbai-based content studio run by media professionals, has been making and releasing small movies on his YouTube channel about topics such as “What’s it like to live with a bipolar disorder?” The channel is a go-to guide to on how parents and siblings should enable and support their loved ones who have to face the challenges of being diagnosed with neurodivergent disorders. After the controversy last week, Deboor shared his views on social media about how content makers like him have to be extremely careful about how to position their content, and still be thoughtful and empathetic.
“Most content is funded content. Instagram doesn’t pay you. YouTube pays, but it’s next to nothing. So, essentially, whom are you turning to for money? Brands. I haven’t even watched one episode of India’s Got Latent, but the numbers are saying something else. Obviously, people are watching it. It’s one of the most watched shows in recent times,” he says. “But here, we are doing good content but it doesn’t become a conversation like this does.”
Why is that?
“I have worked with many genres of podcast, from mental health, to society and culture. These days, we need content that catches the eyeballs or the ears, but we have to self-regulate by drawing a line where it needs to be drawn,” says Neeti Kochhar, the founder of AudStory Podcast Production. “The 40-second-cut teaser of a video podcast has to be juicy and controversial, and it might seem not much to you, but in the podcast game, it is everything. We have to convince the listener to find us and listen to us for 45 minutes at least. That’s the reality of it, but if everyone in the industry began to experiment with more quality content, then I think the trend will go in that direction. But as for now, we are in a situation where we are all looking for controversial statements in content.”
So it could mean that we are ignoring quality content in favour of content that “works”. Kavita Rajwade , co-founder of IVM Podcasts, talks about how personal branding taking over content is something that the podcasting industry has been grappling with. “Sometimes you come across a creator who has an area of expertise that will give the listener/viewer great insight, but they might not be very good on camera and that might affect the success of the pod. We’ve seen people who are bigger than the show and their personality is the thing that gets the viewers and not the content,” she says. “Brands and viewers are responsible for feeding into a cycle. A mutual fund company might want us to produce a video podcast. But will have suggestions to ‘make it funny’, ‘to not make the content boring’. We then have to toe a line between becoming unnecessarily dumbed down and staying authentic,” adds Rajwade.
Aditya Kuber, founder of entertainment agency Ideabrew Studios, adds another layer to the conversation; He says that trendsetters lead to many copycats. “The big creators lead the way. When there is success in a certain type of content, it becomes the template for others across genres. That’s where the problem lies. More than crass language and sexual content, it’s in the way the content is packaged, and marketed—the sensationalism. It comes from how television has evolved; the way shows and news are packaged—audiences want that. Audiences find it palatable. Also, rather than a bad influence on society, I think these creators are more reflective of society. They make jokes about things that have happened, and somewhere they end up normalising this way of looking at things,” he says. Asked what kind of content brands want, and whether virality of content trumps OG or niche content, “Yes, brands do look at the kind of reach and social media influence a creator has. But at the same time, they want to stay away from controversy and want reasonably ‘safe’ content. This has affected OG creators and niche content, to be honest,” he adds.
Smart, witty content is not attempted because it is harder to do, says well-known stand-up comic, Punit Pania, who talks of capitalist structures and India’s corporate scene in his content. “To do smart content you need to be educated. This doesn’t just mean degrees but to understand the world, and all context that makes India what it is given its diversity. I cannot see that in the creators—the need to address social issues and taboos does not exist. What does exist is the greed to cash in on the gold rush of social media and see what sells. The artiste just seems in a rush to get more money and brand deals,” he says.
With inputs by Vidya Heble
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