In this article, I foreground the granular movements that determine the ubiquitous nature of India’s new media economy created by the advent of streaming media platforms and the emergence of regional online content creators in India. I argue that the increasing preference of Indian audiences to consume online content in their own language has led to a demand for ‘regional’ content, whereby streaming platforms and online creators are increasingly investing in ‘non-Hindi’ and ‘non-English’ language content to cater to the linguistically and culturally diverse Indian population. Through a primary focus on online content creation practices in Bengali and Marathi languages, the article explores their ‘local’, ‘regional’, ‘transnational’ and ‘global’ appeal, and subsequent blurring of boundaries between ‘regionalization’ and ‘localization’. The remainder of the article focuses on the emerging diaspora of regional online content creators who are adopting distinct content strategies to develop relationships with online communities based on commonalities of language and culture.
AndersonJD (1917) The phonetics of the Bengali language. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies1(1): 79–84.
2.
AppaduraiA (1990) Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory, Culture & Society7(2–3): 295–310.
3.
AthiqueA (2006) Bollywood and ‘grocery store’ video piracy in Australia. Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy121(1): 41–51.
4.
AthiqueA (2009) From monopoly to polyphony: India in the era of television. In: TurnerGTayJ (eds) Television Studies after TV. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 169–177.
CunninghamSCraigD (2017) Being ‘really real’ on YouTube: Authenticity, community and brand culture in social media entertainment. Media International Australia164(1): 71–81.
16.
CunninghamSCraigD (2019) Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. New York: NYU Press.
17.
de CerteauM (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
18.
EY (2018) Re-imagining India’s M&E sector. Ernst & Young.
KumarA (2013) Provincialising Bollywood? Cultural economy of north Indian small-town nostalgia in the Indian multiplex. South Asian Popular Culture11(1): 61–74.
MohanSPunathambekarA (2018) Localizing YouTube: Language, cultural regions, and digital platforms. International Journal of Cultural Studies22(3): 317–333.
41.
MohantyAK (2010) Languages, inequality and marginalization: Implications of the double divide in Indian multilingualism. International Journal of the Sociology of Language205: 131–154.
42.
MukherjeeR (2012) Travels, songs and displacements: Movement in translocal documentaries interrogating development. BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies3(1): 53–68.
43.
MukherjeeR (2019) Jio sparks Disruption 2.0: Infrastructural imaginaries and platform ecosystems in ‘Digital India’. Media, Culture & Society41(2): 175–195.
VenegasC (2009) Thinking regionally: Singular in diversity and diverse in unity. In HoltJPerrenA (eds) Media Industries: History, Theory, and Method. New Malden, MA: Wiley, pp. 120–131.
57.
VikasO (2001) Language Technology Development in India. New Delhi: Ministry of Information Technology.
58.
Yong JinD (2007) Reinterpretation of cultural imperialism: Emerging domestic market vs continuing US dominance. Media, Culture & Society29(5): 753–771.
