Who makes those crazy YouTube videos?

Meet the man behind Culture Machine, the company that creates wacky online content. With an office now in Chennai, Sameer Pitalwalla tells us about rocking Gen X

July 12, 2014 04:40 pm | Updated 05:02 pm IST

Sameer Pitalwalla

Sameer Pitalwalla

Have you caught The Sonam Kapoor Selfie, Gore Gote or Mumbai IQ online and laughed your wits off? Wacky the content may be, but the guys generating it at the new generation digital video company Culture Machine are dead serious about their job. Located in a bustling suburb of Mumbai, Culture Machine has an in-house studio complete with voice-recording theatre and post-production facilities.

In just a year since its inception, the company has opened its latest facility in Chennai in association with the Asian College of Journalism, and CEO and co-founder Sameer Pitalwalla is happy to plant its first footprint outside of Mumbai. “Venkat (co-founder, Venkat Prasad) is originally from Chennai, though he lived in the Valley for a long time. It is his initiative. We have a good North-South blend!” he laughs. Sameer says it’s been a whirlwind year. “I have lived my love affair with the digital world for the last seven years,” says the man, who has earlier headed the digital media arms at other companies such as Disney UTV. “I realised the massive appetite there is for programming, especially original stuff.” His observation was corroborated by a YouTube study that revealed that 30 per cent of YouTube watchers said there was no content created that was native to the platform. And that’s the story of how Culture Machine came to be. And also how it went, well, viral.

Behind every video clip that goes viral from the Culture Machine stable, there is a dedicated team. “Videos don’t just go viral. There is a science to it and each of our employees is YouTube certified. That means they aren’t just enthusiastic kids from the Internet generation. They’ve been trained to create digital content, understand copyright issues, grow audiences, break the clutter, and create communities to help monetise the brand,” says Sameer.

So, it may look funny, but entertaining generation X, especially on social media platforms where content can be instantly hailed or hated in real time, is hardly a joking matter. The job entrusted to Culture Machine’s 60-member strong team? Bring creative and original content on to digital platforms such as YouTube, iTunes, Spotify and Vuclip and help clients (which includes artists, brands and traditional media companies) break through the clutter, reach the right viewers, and get monetised.

The company services categories such as music, comedy, news, beauty, lifestyle and makeup. Not only is digital content giving rise to newer media of communication, it is also creating a pool of artists. Sameer says it isn’t just Bollywood that works for them. “Anything that’s relevant and unique works.”

From delivering 60 news story clips a day for a news site to a three-day effort for a comedy clip to three weeks for a musical performance, the people at Culture Machine work non-stop. “It’s fun, it’s technology-driven and it’s original. There are really no challenges; I’d like to see anything as an opportunity.” With the growing number of Internet users, better connectivity and a mobile-first market, his life can only get better!

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