[CIOL Exclusive] In conversation with Shivank Agarwal of Mitron TV, the Indian replacement for Tik-Tok

Even before the government announced the ban of 59 Chinese Apps, including Tik-Tok, Mitron TV had gained many content creators. It was even in controversies for very long. But then, it brushed them off and rose to the opportunity. Currently, one of the largest downloaded short-video platforms, Mitron is the in-home place for video content creators.

CIOL took an opportunity to talk to the CEO of Mitron TV. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

1. You have achieved a big milestone in a very small time. What are the possible reasons that contributed to your success?

Frankly, when we started, we knew we were trying to find our place in a category that was dominated by one large player. But we believed in our mission to build an Indian app for Indian users that respect Indian community standards and laws. The rapid growth and mass adoption of Mitron have given us and the creators a huge validation that the audience believes in the quality of content on our app. Mitron app was downloaded by millions of Indian users, even before the ban on Chinese apps, confirming our belief that users wanted an alternative to the Chinese apps.

2. You are probably the few who have received funding amid the lockdown. What are your business plans?

Mitron team has been super-agile. They are rapidly improving the product with 8 releases in 6 weeks. Further improvements planned include optimization to handle media at scale, a recommendation engine for bubbling up good videos, search capability, improved video editing tools, real-time feedback in search rankings and personalization.

3. What prompted you to name the app- "Mitron"?

We wanted to communicate clearly that we are an Indian app. Mitron means “friends” and it is a name that everyone easily understands across the country.

4. Do you think Mitron brought an Industrial revolution in India since you became famous even before the ban?

Mobile internet usage is rising rapidly, driven by Social Media & Entertainment apps. India has over 500 - 600mil internet users, of which more than 150mil are new users who came online during the last 1-2 years. Most of these users engage with social media platforms. On average, Indians spend 2.4 hours a day on social media apps in a day. The rapid increase in the usage of social media & entertainment apps is driven by access to cheaper smartphones & low-cost data plans. The rapid growth and mass adoption of Mitron have given us and the creators a huge validation that the audience believes in the quality of content on Mitron. The viewership of 40 million videos per hour has shown that these creators are homegrown superstars.

5. With more and more growing concerns for security, what are you doing to make the user feel safe?

We are completely aligned with data privacy and security. Also, we have taken several measures to make sure that it is reflected in our product. We ensure that all our users' data is stored on Indian servers and are accessible only by Mitron servers running on Indian data centres. Users have control of their data and can choose to delete any content uploaded by them. Any user specific interaction is performed with a signed token which is issued and verified by our servers so that user behaviour cannot be mimicked.

We have done VAPT(Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing) for all the existing APIs(data exchange) and made it as part of the process for any new development. Additionally, We are building privacy/visibility control for users where they will be able to control the visibility(public/private/friends) of their videos.

6. How are you monetising through the platform?

At Mitron, we believe that the greatest reward for creativity should be the creation itself. We are building a product that's for Indian users, in line with our vision to reimagine digital entertainment & engagement. Therefore, we are focused on helping Mitron creators build followership with our various upcoming InApp engagement campaigns and product features. This will give Mitron creators an elevated platform to showcase their talent to a wide audience.

There is strong interest from advertisers which will help Mitron creators to generate income from the platform. This kind of engagement will prove to be more rewarding and sustainable.

7. "Vocal for Local" turned out to be a big opportunity for you. What happens when TikTok comes back?

Our goal is to build Mitron as a short-form video app that reimagines digital entertainment and engagement while respecting the local cultural norms and regulatory framework. It's not like we launched Mitron after TikTok was banned. We launched when TikTok was very much in India and we still saw millions of downloads in just a month. The competition will always be there; whether TikTok or some other player and we are confident of building Mitron to a large scale.

8. The AI/ML that you use will take time to reach TikTok's level. Can you comment on that?

We believe our product is good and it is getting better fast and our focus is on building a world-class product and that's what will ultimately determine the winner.

9. Tell us about your team.

We are presently a team of 15 people at Mitron in the areas of engineering and operations. Last month, Mitron raised a small round of seed funding from 3one4 Capital and Arun Tadanki's private syndicate on LetsVenture. We will utilize this funding towards hiring key employees, to help us scale Mitron further. In the next 3 months, we are also planning to hire an additional 40 people which will include top-notch product & engineering talent, a small team in the areas of marketing, partnerships & growth. We are also expanding our operations team for content moderation.