Now Reading: YouTube Shorts monetisation barely moved, says Shemaroo
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YouTube Shorts monetisation barely moved, says Shemaroo
Shemaroo's chief operating officer Arghya Chakravarty said on the Q1 FY27 earnings call that YouTube Shorts monetisation has barely moved, echoing industry-wide concerns. 'The needle has nearly not moved,' he said. YouTube…
The Story in Brief
Shemaroo's chief operating officer Arghya Chakravarty said on the Q1 FY27 earnings call that YouTube Shorts monetisation has barely moved, echoing industry-wide concerns. 'The needle has nearly not moved,' he said. YouTube has announced that from February 2027, channels will need 10 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days to share ad and subscription revenue. Shemaroo's CEO Hiren Gada said the company is instead focusing on connected TV, which has far better returns.
The media firm also faces challenges in free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST), which it says has been degrowing globally, and remains cautious on micro dramas due to monetisation questions. Digital media revenue fell 17% year-on-year to about Rs 56 crore, while total operational revenue slipped 6% to roughly Rs 132 crore. Shemaroo expects its OTT platform to break even within two years.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that YouTube Shorts is a goldmine for Indian media firms is now looking shaky. Shemaroo's blunt admission that monetisation 'has barely moved' echoes Tips Music's demand for revenue sharing over fixed fees. For all the hype around short-form video, ad rates on Shorts remain far below long-form or TV. YouTube's new 10-million-views threshold looks like a hurdle, not a solution. The real test: will any Indian media company actually hit that bar and see meaningful revenue, or is Shorts just a loss leader for the platform?
Source: medianama.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
