Story TV's parent company raised $80 million as phone-first short dramas boom in India, but few viewers pay, and that matters for anyone who makes video or ads.
EloElo, the Indian company behind the Story TV app, has raised $80 million at a $500 million valuation. The money comes from Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal. Story TV streams microdramas, which are short, serialized video stories made for phone screens. The round brings EloElo's total funding to $130 million.
More than 118 million people in India watch microdramas every month. Analysts say Story TV has over 33 million active users. Founder Saurabh Pandey, a former Flipkart executive, says users spend about 95 minutes a day on the app, spread over several short visits. The app has more than 5,000 titles in six languages. Analysts expect the industry in India to pass $3 billion to $4 billion in yearly revenue by 2030.
Watching is not the same as paying. Research firm Redseer says more than 40 million people have paid for a microdrama at least once, but only 15 to 17 million pay every month. A separate Ormax Media survey found that 72% of people have never paid.
Story TV sells monthly, quarterly and yearly subscriptions. It also offers some free shows paid for by ads, which reports suggest may earn less than subscriptions. It competes with YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, where creators post for free. Pandey is betting that better-made shows will win viewers over.
Microdrama apps need a steady supply of new shows, and many want AI to help. Story TV has an internal tool called Dolphin AI, which it plans to release widely. According to its website, it works as an editor with templates and several models that create images, audio and video.
EloElo also wants businesses to use the tool for marketing campaigns and ads. Pandey says people still matter most. He compares AI to a fast race car that needs a skilled driver, which he says is the creative director or showrunner.
EloElo has 240 employees. It plans to hire more people for AI and machine learning research and to spend a good share of the new money on original titles. The company also runs a learning app called Master and an AI companion app called Voxy AI. Across all its apps it reports more than 40 million monthly users. Whether enough of those viewers will pay is still the open question.
Short phone-first series are drawing huge audiences in India, but turning viewers into paying customers is still the hard part.
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