Unpacking VerSe’s Josh: growth, monetization and future roadmap

The short video entertainment space has seen consolidation with the merger of MX TakaTak, the pivot of Chingari, and the shutdown of Mitron TV. This has left the fledgling market with two main players: ShareChat’s Moj and VerSe’s Josh.

While Moj’s parent company, ShareChat, has been finding it tough to secure follow-on funding, Josh remains well-capitalized and holds a leading position in the segment with approximately 180 million active users.

“We have a monthly active user base of 179 million, along with 91 million daily active users,” said a Josh spokesperson in an interaction with Entrackr. “By the end of FY24, we had over 150 million downloads via playstore.”

Josh is available in 12 Indian languages and reports that over 80% of its content is viewed in local dialects. This feature is particularly crucial as more than two-thirds of its users are from tier II and III cities such as Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Patna, and Raipur.

OEM partnership: Key to Josh’s growth

Josh's DAU and MAU numbers appear staggering, but they don't align with data from app trackers like App Annie and Appflyer. "These trackers are irrelevant in our case, as majority of our downloads come from pre-installed mobile phones," the spokesperson clarified.

Josh has secured more than two-thirds of its downloads through partnerships with smartphone manufacturers such as Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Samsung, among others.

Creator-centric approach driving Josh’s topline

The success of a short-video app largely depends on its creators and the ecosystem surrounding them. Josh has a community of over 100,000 creators and partnerships with 14 leading music labels. "Our monthly active creator base increased by 34% year-on-year, reaching 71 million in FY24," added the spokesperson. Collaboration is a key focus for Josh, which launched Collab to tap into the influencer ecosystem.

"Collab is designed to help brands discover influencers and engage with them seamlessly, without any friction," said the spokesperson.

After prioritizing traction for two and half years (September 2020 to mid 2023), Josh began monetization by opening the platform to brands for campaigns in the second half of 2023. Currently, Josh offers a range of advertising solutions which include diverse formats such as video ads, influencer-brand collaborations and influencer and content-led IPs. 

“Josh helps businesses in brand building, lead generation, user engagement, and creating overall awareness,” added the spokesperson.

The platform has worked with 450 brands, including Amazon, Myntra, Nykaa, Xiaomi, since July last year. Around one-third of Josh's user base was from tier 1 cities while 68% hailed from tier II and III cities. The popularity of short videos is 2X higher in tier II and III cities. 

Brands with a national presence who are looking to strengthen their brand recall in tier II markets and regional languages prefer Josh.

While Josh didn’t give exact revenue numbers, it reported hitting an average revenue run rate of Rs 300 crore this quarter. "Our target is to achieve break even by the first half of 2025,” said the spokesperson.

Live commerce/audio, audio stories to oil monetization roadmap

In addition to tapping into the influencer ecosystem, Josh is exploring new formats such as brand shoppable commerce, live commerce, live audio, gifting and audio stories. As per the firm, these efforts aim to position Josh for revenue generation and profitability as it deepens its monetization road.

The live audio feature on Josh enables users to have real-time conversations with specialised creators. Users initiating live audio calls pay per minute using Josh’s in-app currency, "Jems," while creators earn "Diamonds," redeemable in the Indian currency. 

Audio stories, particularly in regional languages, are also gaining traction. Josh offers subscription-based and micro-payments for specific content from partners like Velvet, Eight, and EarShot, viewing this as a substantial long-term opportunity.

Josh has leadership in the Bharat-focused short video entertainment space and is actively working to demonstrate its platform’s ability to deliver real results and fulfil its promises to buyers. Josh’s strategic decision to remain closed to advertising until 2023 reflects its focus on building a robust user base and platform. 

With its recent monetization efforts, Josh is well positioned to address the market gap left by TikTok in India.