Recently, Instagram launched the video capture functionality, with which users can take a small video using their phone and post that as a part of their Instagram feed. Indian startup and our very own MobiSpark company, AirGol has been doing this for almost a whole year now, and it’s reception has not been too bad.
With about 15,000 downloads on the Android platform and an equally strong response for it’s iOS variant, the platform has about 13,000 videos from all around the world and has generated over 2.5 lakh views in the past 3 months alone.
We took some time to get to know this homegrown app a little more and here’s what we think -
What does it do?
An AirGol user can sign up for the service using Facebook or Email; the service being the ability to record a one minute long video and share it on the AirGol, as well as your social network. Along with this, an AirGol user can also view other videos on the platform.
There are two record modes in the app. You can either record a video on an online mode, where the quality of the video is compromised or you can record a video on an offline mode, where the quality is only limited by the phone’s camera itself and upload it later. Before you take a video, you’re given the option on whom you want to share the video with – only yourself, everyone or friends.
On some devices, you need to install another app to be able to view the videos. Also, the app does throw up some network related issues when trying to upload videos taken in the offline mode. But, these are not AirGol’s USP.
An active community
For testing purposes, we recorded a random video and uploaded. Almost instantly, it had 5 views on it, simply from the AirGol platform alone. If the content was compelling enough, I’m guessing that the videos might have been shared more.
Given the difficulty in discovery on YouTube, prevalent now more than ever, a response like this on AirGol is very promising for a content creator. With a total of 13,000 videos shared on the platform, AirGol as a video sharing platform is a great proposition for content creators.
The Indian challenge?
India is not known to be a content creating market and business models built around the assumption that Indians will create content, like iStream, have failed in the past. However, we can’t completely rule out AirGol because – 1) It’s on mobile, where a video capture and upload is not as cumbersome as other means; and 2) the videos can be only a minute long by default. Also, AirGol is targeting a world audience.
AirGol’s traction so far has been steady and if marketed well, the product can see much more user adoption in the coming years. As a product, AirGol works. There are some UX areas where it can be better. Also, the facility for portrait videos will be much appreciated.
Overall, I think AirGol is on to something and if you’re into sharing small snippets of videos, you should try it out.