Making political-themed content has fetched some creators hundreds of thousands of views in the last few months, a sharp rise from business as usual.
Multiple influencer marketing professionals told ET the top 10-20 creators across verticals — ranging from lifestyle to infotainment — travelled to the capital ahead of the polls to conduct interviews with prominent political figures.
Over the last few months, YouTube has been populated with videos of creators such as Ranveer Allahbadia (more popularly, BeerBiceps) chatting with senior leaders including S Jaishankar and Nitin Gadkari of the BJP, in addition to opposition leaders like Atishi Marlena and Raghav Chadha of AAP, and Supriya Sule from NCP(SP), among others.
Similarly, lifestyle creator Kamiya Jani has been uploading videos showing her dining and discussing food with political leaders on her YouTube channel Curly Tales.
Financial angle
The videos include her speaking with Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, as well as BJP ministers Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani. In January 2023, Jani uploaded a brunch podcast with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Rajasthan leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra that had gained a lot of traction at the time. Today, it’s become common for top influencers to interview political leaders of regional as well as national parties.The monetary rewards for this kind of collaboration aren’t much, said agency heads.“Some creators have been offered cash via third-party agencies facilitating podcasts for less-prominent political leaders. But most creators are doing this for access and recognition in the political corridors. Money is incidental for them,” said Talha Rashid, a Delhi-based political consultant and researcher.
Leading finance-focused creators, or ‘finfluencers,’ are being offered Rs 10-12 lakh to promote the schemes proposed by various political parties, typically through multiple videos released over a few days or weeks, one of them told ET on condition of anonymity. Such creators tend to make about 25% more on regular brand collaborations, depending on their stature, but in terms of eyeballs, it’s a lucrative proposition.
“Top influencers in areas like travel and tech are being offered money to indirectly promote cultural and digital offerings of a particular party, without disclosing that the video is a paid promotion,” the finfluencer said.
But “a tech influencer with the same views on a video is likely to earn four times what one can earn on a video on political content,” said Akash Banerjee, known for his YouTube channel on political and social satire, called The Deshbhakt. “Typically, most ads are served on tech content, then entertainment, education, and so on. Politics is way down the pecking order.”
Importantly, though, brands are now willing to purchase ad inventory associated with political content online, a practice they have traditionally been known to avoid.
“A decade ago, brands did not want to associate with political or religious conversations,” said Rashid. “We’re now seeing a trend where brands are getting less hesitant to associate with political narratives.”
While there’s still reluctance to collaborate with creators who only make political content, brands are flexible to, say, sponsor a tech or travel creator who is indirectly shaping a political narrative.
Instead of a blanket ban on being seen alongside political content, brands are now said to be evaluating it on the PINI scale — ‘positive influence, negative influence’ — said the head of an influencer analytics firm. “Anything that aligns with a nation-building narrative, for instance, is labelled as patriotic and safe to associate with,” this person said.
To critique or not?
Some creators said they turned down political collaboration offers. “They want you to avoid criticism, but also insist on constant promotional posts, even if they’re not relevant to your audience or don’t align with your content focus,” said the finfluencer cited above.
Creators tackling critical political topics often struggle to monetise their content.
“Only a few top creators producing critical political content get sponsors and those are also limited in number,” said ‘The Deshbhakt’ Banerjee. “Brands in categories like audio streaming or VPN recognise that our content appeals to discerning individuals that are likely to purchase their products.”
The Deshbhakt YouTube channel boasts over 4.2 million subscribers. Banerjee said brands usually ask creators like him to be softer in their criticism for videos they are sponsoring, often asking him not to name important politicians.
Additionally, ads served on political content are far fewer and cheaper due to supply-demand of ad inventory. Google allows advertisers to block their ads from appearing on sensitive content categories, including a specific exclusion for content related to politics or news.
The cost per thousand impressions varies across countries. India tends to have significantly lower digital ad rates, compared with mature digital markets like the US.
Banerjee said creators putting out content critical of political parties and their actions also tend to face ‘demonetisation’ issues (where the platform does not allow the content to generate ad revenue), which limits their earnings. “Two years ago, 21 of my videos were demonetised in a row,” he recalled.
There have been instances of newsfluencers receiving notifications from YouTube about their videos, especially those related to electronic voting machines, being demonetised.
“Creators who wish to monetise their content with ads must abide by our advertiser-friendly content guidelines,” a YouTube spokesperson told ET by email. “These policies are global and are designed to help maintain our brand safety and suitability standards. We apply them consistently to all creators, regardless of their political viewpoint, position or affiliation.”
Selling online courses and member-only subscription plans are alternatives but unsustainable avenues of earning income for creators who continue to make critical content on political parties.
However, Banerjee said that though there will be many more creators of political content over the next few weeks, it’s likely to peter out after the election verdict, at which point creators may struggle to retain their audience.
