India’s creator economy was always a glimpse into the life of the metro cities, the polished individuals, or more recently heavily scripted brand campaigns. But now it's not limited to that. Increasingly, the momentum is also coming from hyperlocal creators, regional storytelling, and content that feels deeply personal and culturally rooted.
And according to Neha Markanda, Chief Business Officer, Sharechat, this evolution is fundamentally changing how both audiences and advertisers engage online.
Speaking to IMPACT Magazine, Markanda described today’s vernacular creators as far more than category-specific influencers. “They are not just creators, they are very powerful hyper-local voices,” she said, pointing to how creators across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets are building trust and relatability that extend across multiple categories, from lifestyle and beauty to technology and food.
What makes this evolution particularly interesting, she noted, is the growing comfort creators have in showcasing their real lives instead of chasing overly polished aesthetics. “They've moved away from any kind of glossiness to making it very, very real, to capturing their own life,” she said. Whether it is creators talking from their kitchens, discussing local products, or sharing everyday experiences, authenticity is becoming the strongest currency in the regional content ecosystem.
Watch the interview here:
That authenticity, according to Markanda, is also forcing brands to rethink the way they collaborate with creators. Instead of controlling every aspect of the communication, advertisers are now allowing creators to shape the storytelling in their own voice.
“Brands are realising that they just need to trust the creator and let them own the brand message and make it relevant for users,” she said.
One of the biggest emerging opportunities in this space, she believes, is microdrama content. While short-form storytelling has already exploded across platforms, Sharechat is now seeing brands move beyond standard advertising integrations into immersive storytelling formats within microdramas.
“It already is becoming a fairly powerful advertising opportunity,” Markanda said.
Interestingly, what started as simple reach-and-frequency inventory has rapidly evolved into far more interactive formats. From product placements inside scenes to ‘shop the scene’ integrations and even bespoke storytelling, brands are beginning to experiment aggressively with the format.
“We're doing a ‘shop the scene’ where we're doing like a freeze frame and encouraging users to pick up that product from a particular marketplace based on how that scene looks,” she explained.
The engagement numbers, she revealed, have already made the format difficult for brands to ignore, with view-through rates consistently crossing 75-80%. Sharechat now expects microdramas to contribute nearly 22-25% of its ad revenues in the near future.
Despite increasing competition from platforms investing heavily in short-form and regional content, Markanda believes Sharechat’s core strength lies in being ‘language first’ rather than simply being another platform with regional offerings. “When a user signs into a Sharechat app, they sign in as a user of a particular language,” she explained, adding that this creates a far deeper and more exclusive cultural connection with audiences. That cultural depth, she believes, gives Sharechat an edge in enabling conversations around hyperlocal festivals, micro-cultural moments, and regional nuances that may not naturally find space on larger global platforms.
More than competing solely on scale, Markanda sees Sharechat’s role as helping brands build relatability and cultural relevance in a market as diverse as India.
“We do have a large reach. We have a 200 million user bases, but more than that, we have relatability and a cultural context that we are uniquely positioned to provide,” she said.
Looking ahead, Markanda believes the future of digital media and advertising in India will depend on understanding cultural behaviour, not just demographics.
“We are in the service of the Indian consumer. We are built for India, in India,” she said, adding that the company’s long-term focus will remain on building content, formats, and innovations that resonate with India’s diverse audiences and cultural identities.
