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Harsh Dwivedi

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Medialย โ€ขย 1m

Why Subscriptions and Micro-payments are the Future of Monetization in India and not Ads India now has over 800 million internet users, making it one of the largest internet user-base on Earth. We are close to US and China in this but nowhere close to ad revenue. Meta for example. In 2024, it had in $160 billion in ad revenue. Less than 1.5% of that came from India, despite being its largest market by users. The average Indian user is worth maybe $5โ€“$10 annually, compared to $100+ per user in the US. Weโ€™re a value conscious nation where CPMs are low, advertisers are cautious, and user behaviour is different. Which is exactly why Indian apps are ditching the Western ad playbook and building for โ‚น10-at-a-time monetization. Some examples: KukuFM monetized > 2M users with subscriptions (Rs 499/3 months and other plans/microtransactions) PocketFM (more on micro transactions than subscriptions), pay per episode Eloelo (virtual gifting creator economy) ShareChat & Moj moved from ads to in-app tools and gifting The Indian internet isnโ€™t too cheap to monetize, it just monetizes differently with mass microtransactions. Low ARPU ร— Massive DAUs ร— High Retention Trying to replicate Western ad models here is impossible. Advertising in India is a game of scale, and not even the giants win. But subscriptions and micropayments are a game of depth. Theyโ€™re culturally aligned, economically suited, and much more controllable. The future of monetization in India doesnโ€™t look like that. It looks like โ‚น10 from 10 million people. Over and over again.

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