There has been an explosion of Kannada content on popular video streaming platform YouTube over the last one year and there have been many takers for it particularly during lockdown. A majority of content dominating the Kannada YouTube space today is long interviews of celebrities, especially film personalities, and food related content. Telugu and Tamil have had a vibrant YouTube space for years now and Kannada has been catching up.
K.S. Parameshwar, a NSD graduate who ventured into documentary filmmaking in 2014 with three theatre friends, including his wife, started the YouTube channel Kalamadhyama in 2019. “We have been doing long interviews of film personalities and writers and publishing them in parts. We have interviewed under-represented persons like a senior extra artist and sound designer. Our series in memoriam of Shankar Nag has been a huge hit,” he said. “Many videos that we published before the pandemic became viral only since the lockdown,” he said.
Total Kannada, a noted brand dealing in Kannada DVD market and documentaries also ventured into the YouTube space during the pandemic.
“Apart from interviews, we also hosted a series on Hindi imposition and now a new series on dynasties that have ruled Karnataka,” said Lakshmikant, founder of Total Kannada.
There has also been a profusion of vlogs, mostly run by homemakers on housekeeping and cookery in Kannada. There are other channels like Unbox Karnataka, which have been producing videos combining travel and food as themes.
Expenses
However, monetisation of content is yet to be fully realised. “Ever since the lockdown increased viewership for our videos, we started earning to meet our production expenses, but have not been able to earn enough to sustain a team,” said Mr. Parameshwar.
