OML CEO Tusharr Kumar on Managing 100+ Creators, Making Shows, and more
Insights into how OML stays close to culture, scales its businesses, and keeps reinventing itself
In this episode of The Media Room, media journalist and author Vanita Kohli-Khandekar speaks to Tusharr Kumar, CEO and Director of Only Much Louder (OML), one of India’s most influential media and entertainment companies. Once known as an indie music promoter, OML has shapeshifted into a multi-pronged business spanning talent management, branded content agencies, and long-form content production. Today, it manages more than 100 creators across comedy, beauty, food, and travel; runs three agencies including the creative shop MO and influencer network Hypothesis; and has produced over 60 shows for Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Kumar talks about why comedy remains central to OML’s DNA and how comedians helped shape both India’s YouTube ecosystem and its OTT boom. He explains how artist management functions as “soft power” for the company, why OML deliberately keeps its roster selective, and how controversies and cancel culture are part of managing creative risk. They also discuss OML’s global campaigns in markets from Poland to the Congo, its growing bets on sports content beyond cricket, and the economics of long-form storytelling in an era dominated by platforms and algorithms. Tune in for insights into how OML stays close to culture, scales its businesses, and keeps reinventing itself in the fast-changing media landscape.
(00:00) Introduction
(01:45) OML’s journey from indie music to managing 100+ creators
(05:12) Why OML keeps comedy at the heart of its business
(09:34) Managing artists in the age of controversy and cancel culture
(13:28) OML’s global footprint: campaigns in Poland, Lebanon, and Congo
(17:46) The rise of sports content beyond cricket
(21:40) How pop culture fuels new interest in sports like rugby and chess
(24:51) What drives OML’s growth across agencies, talent, and long-form content
(28:10) How OML creates and monetises stand-up specials and fiction shows
(32:20) Talent management as OML’s “soft power”
NOTE: This transcript is done by a machine. Human eyes have gone through the script but there might still be errors in some of the text, so please refer to the audio in case you need to clarify any part. If you want to get in touch regarding any feedback, you can drop us a message on [email protected].
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TRANSCRIPT
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar (host): Hello and welcome to The Media Room. OML is one of those companies which the digital media ecosystem which we've seen sort of forming over the last 20 years has thrown up. You know it is, it's a bit of everything, it's a bit of a talent management agency, it's a bit of a digital advertising agency and it's a producer of content among other things.
From Zakir Khan and Tanmay Bhatt to Gopal Dutt and Amandeep Singh, it handles several of India's top stand-up comics, writers, and YouTube creators. One of its biggest investors has been KKR's, the KKR-backed Emerald Media and it's been the longest, I think since 2015, KKR has been invested in OML. And OML actually to my mind is a proxy for a whole lot of the new media ecosystem which is forming within the business and that's why I took a deep dive into trying to understand how OML fits into the Indian media and entertainment ecosystem and a long chat with Tushar Kumar who is the CEO and a director in the company.
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Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Hi Tushar, welcome to The Media Room. Wonderful to have you here. Actually, I've been wanting to speak to OML for a long time simply because I'm a Zakir fan and I know Zakir is a talent that you handle.
But really, OML does so many different things, such as content creation, artist management, and events. Could you give my listeners and viewers a quick overview of what is OML all about and then we'll get into more details.
Tusharr Kumar: Got it. Super. Thank you for having me, Vanita.
It's really exciting to be here. I think, you know, what you're asking about OML, a lot of people ask us, you know, what does OML actually do? It's a little bit of the story of the blind man and the elephant.
So, whatever part of OML they've dealt with, for them, that OML becomes that in entirety, right? So, some people think we're only an artist management company. But I think over the years and I think the great thing about OML is we've been shapeshifters.
We've shifted with the tides of business and as sort of digital happened. But we essentially have about three main areas of business now. Artist management, like you said, is our legacy business.
That's the oldest business we had. We used to manage independent musicians. Then that sort of evolved into managing comedy in a big way.
And now we manage about 100 artists across comedy, creators, other sorts of genres like beauty, travel, writers as well. So, it's a mixed bag of talent, about 100 odd people that we manage. That talent management business still remains one of our strongest businesses at OML.
The second bucket really is the branded content agency businesses that we run. We run about three agencies right now at OML. One, which is something we launched very recently called MO, which is our creative agency business.
So, we do everything from your TVCs to DVCs to managing your socials. And we recently did a really interesting Canva campaign as well. Hypothesis, which is our influencer marketing agency.
So, you're a brand, you want to do some work with influencers. We sort of work with them and it's interesting because we've been working with influencers for over eight years. And that started with something called 1862, which is an agency we actually set up for Bacardi.
So, 1862 as an agency works only on the Bacardi mandate. It's a retainer we've had for the last seven years. We work on branded content and influencer marketing for Bacardi brands.
And we've worked across about 21 odd countries. The biggest market there for us is actually Poland, where we do a lot of work for Bacardi and his portfolio of brands. Those are the branded content businesses that we own.
And then there's OML Studios. This is where we've been making long form content. So, we've made about 62 odd shows.
Yeah, 62 odd shows between Amazon Prime and Netflix over the last many years. Our next show called Bandwale starring Shalini Pandey, Zahan Kapoor, Svanan Kirkire is going to also come out soon on Amazon Prime. That's the next show that's coming out for us.
And also in OML Studios, we do a lot of line production work for other agencies as well. So, it's really interesting what we're doing there. We exited the live events business in 2021.
So, we sold the live events business and all of the IPs to Nordwind Gaming. And previous, before that in 2017, we actually had built insider.in at OML. And we sent that to Paytm.
And now Paytm has further exited that to Zomato, which is now District.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Let's come back to OML. So, what is OML? It's art management, branded content, no live events now, you do production or your live shows.
Those are the three big markets. Is that fair to say?
Tusharr Kumar: Yes, artist management, branded content and the studios business.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Okay. And of this, which is the largest proportion of your, I know you mentioned that top line figures cannot be discussed, but which is the largest proportion of your top line?
Tusharr Kumar: So, the agency side of the business is about 60% of our revenue. And when you look at the work we do with brands, there's obviously the agency side of the business. But when you also add to it all of the work that our talent is doing for brands, that makes up about 79-80% of all of our business, which is working with brands.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Okay. And so, brands, agencies, talent management and agency are the biggest businesses. Correct?
Have I got that right? Yes. If I was to draw a parallel with some other company, what would you draw parallel with Tushar, as far as OML is concerned?
Which other companies in India or overseas would compare to an OML in what it does in their portfolio?
Tusharr Kumar: I don't think there's any straight comparison because different parts of our businesses actually compete with different businesses. So, for example, MO, our creative agency, you'd compare with all of the traditional agencies out there because those are the same pitches that we're working for and on. So, whether that's Arugulvi or Sachi or whoever, we're all pitching now for very similar work.
When you look at the artist management business in India, obviously, you have many artist management companies in India as well. And when you look at the studios business, it's again another set of comparisons. So, it's interesting the combination we have now and it's a flywheel which sort of feeds into each other as well.
But very different sets of businesses in that sense.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Which is the fastest growing? Which is the one with the maximum potential? And which is the one which contributes most to the bottom line for profitability?
Tusharr Kumar: It's again, the agency side of the business. That's something we've been focussing on for the last three years. The advertising and branded content side of the business.
We've sort of built that out and that's grown really fast for us over the last four years. And we've been focusing a lot on that. And as a result of that, like say for example, something new that we started last year is that we built a small incubation team at OML where we do sports specific content as well.
So, we're working with a lot of teams and leagues. Like we work with Ariana Steelers, with the Pretoria Capitals. We did the Pickleball League last year.
So again, it's an extension that's come out of what we've been doing for brands. But here we're doing it for sporting brands as well. So, we're very excited about the extensions that are going to be possible over the next few years.
Again, with the entirety of what we're building.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: How is it different running OML versus running any other media company? That was one of the things which when I was researching you, I'm saying, okay, how is it different from running? If I was to look at a similar scale that OML has, how many employees would you be right now?
Tusharr Kumar: Well, about 240 employees.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: So, at that scale, let's say a broadcaster at that scale or a digital company at that scale or a newspaper company at that scale or any other, a radio company which would probably fall somewhere in that scale. How is it different running an OML? Is it a variety of things you do or is it the nature or the texture of the business?
Tusharr Kumar: So, I think it's a combination of both. A, you know, being a CEO of a company where we do such diverse work is always very interesting. But I think what's been really great for us is, you know, like the artist management business, for example, that keeps our ears so close to culture because we, you know, and then that feeds into our knowledge on when we're talking to brands to talk about a trend before it happens.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Fantastic, that's a very good insight.
Tusharr Kumar: And it's been great for us, you know, we saw comedy before comedy, the boom happened. And then we produced many specials for Amazon Prime. We did a lot of work with comedians.
We did a lot of live shows. So, I think being in OML, the great thing is about trying to understand what's next. And we are always doing that.
We're trying to figure out what we could do differently. And we believe in disruption all the time. So, we keep on shooting down our own ideas and saying, hey, is it too fuddy-duddy?
Are we being too old? You know, this is a marketing campaign, which should have happened four years ago. So, that sort of keeps us on the toes and all of these businesses really help us do that.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: But you know what, one of the things when I look at your portfolio, you said you had 100 artists of talent that you represent. Is it correct to surmise that a bulk of them are comedians? Or comedy is like a major portion of comedians are a major portion of who you represent.
That's a major area you play in. That's the big area.
Tusharr Kumar: So, comedy is very woven into our DNA, right? Whether it's the artists we manage or shows like Comic-Stan, which we created and then produced. But when you look at our roster, it's fairly diverse.
So, out of the 100 people on our roster, we've got about 25 comedians. Then we've got creators. Yes.
So, we've got creators from all over, right? So, while we manage a Tanmay Bhatt, a Zakir Khan, a Kullu, we also manage someone like Robin Bell, who's a creator, entrepreneur, who's going to run the Antarctica Marathon. We manage someone like Sutej Pannu, who's a beautiful storyteller, photographer.
I don't know if you've seen his content. And he does beautiful storytelling on Instagram. And someone like Ayesha Sanghi, who's one of the most honest beauty voices out there.
So, we've diversified. And I think the way we look at talent management is we're not bound by categories anymore. If we think we can add value to your life with the ecosystem we have at OML, we'd love to work with you as a talent.
You know, even Saransh Goyla was a chef. We represent him. And again, we get to do such different work with each of these creators.
And that's, I think, what's been awesome for us.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: I have two questions here. One, do you pick the creators or the stand-ups or whoever else that you or do they pick you up? How organic is that process?
And B, you know, this cop, because we were asking, I was asking about, you know, you represent some big stand-up comedians and you're very keen on that ecosystem. Is it different from other genres? So, when I look at entertainment or when I look at sports, you know, because I think stand-up is becoming its own sort of, in fact, I'm doing a large piece of work on it. It is becoming its own sort of planet as far as a content genre goes.
So, how is it different? So, there are two questions here. Sorry, this is a bad habit I have, asking multiple questions.
Tusharr Kumar: No, no problem. So, I'll answer your first question. It works both ways, right?
When we see talent who we feel is someone whose content we vibe with, is someone who we think we could add value to, we reach out. And there are times where people reach out to us, asking us for representation. And, you know, then we do, we meet them and we see if there's something we can do where we can either create something new or sort of add value to their lives.
And that's when we onboard an artist. Now, when it comes to comedians, right, the amazing thing about working with comedians is that, and if you think back a little bit in time when YouTube just started happening, they are the people who drove YouTube. They were the first creators who landed on, they created all of this content on YouTube, got everyone to come in.
And then what they did magically is they're also the people who drove audiences to the OTT platforms. When the OTT platforms first came to India, Bollywood was not giving them too much attention. You know, and also, how do you get young people to start watching content on OTT?
You needed all of the comics and their muscle power to get the young audiences onto the OTT platforms. So, when you work with comedians, I think the most amazing thing about them is they are writers, directors, improvisers on the spot. And I think that amazing versatility you see in very few categories of artists when you work with.
So, comedy will always have a special place in our hearts because those artists are just really versatile. And, you know, you can see it. They've like, say, someone like Tanmay, who's an entrepreneur now, and he's also started an advertising agency with his partner, Devaiah.
It's called Moonshot. And they've been putting out ad campaign after ad campaign, which has been doing really well. You have Zakir, who's now started Sakth Films, and he's producing under Sakth Films, both fiction and nonfiction content.
So, the way comedians have been able to diversify into doing many other things is also really amazing to see.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: You know, many of these businesses wouldn't have been born but for the internet. Do you think, you know, even if we had premium TV and all the other shindigs, which developed markets have, we never got premium TV. Do you think this ecosystem would have developed quite the way where an OML fits in as a media company or somebody or a stand-up comedy as a genre by itself fits in?
Tusharr Kumar: No, absolutely. I mean, the internet changed our lives. I'd say all of our new businesses are because the internet happened.
You know, I like to tell everyone this really interesting thing. This is back when we did live events. I used to work at OML on marketing a lot of the live events.
And I was working on our music festival, which was the Bacardi NH7 Weekender, which we used to do back in the day. And one of the founders called me and he pulled me off the weekender, which was my passion project to work on. And he said, Oh, you have to go work on a new event.
It's something we're doing for YouTube. And I was really like, yes. So the first FanFest in India was what OML produced.
Yes, yes, yes. They just had it right now. We did it for the first six years.
Then we sold the company, the live events part of it. But at that FanFest, we had a very, very big Bollywood star present. And then Lilly Singh came on stage.
And when I saw the audience react to Lilly Singh versus our big Bollywood star was the day I realised that the internet is going to change everything. And it did. And I think we sort of have always been now sort of building businesses using the internet, you know.
And when you think of it, even comedians when they sell out arenas, it's so important that their last bit of content on YouTube is interesting, because that's what drives sales on tickets, even in stadiums. So everything's become very interlinked now.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: We missed the other question, which is, how do you choose the artist or the talent?
Tusharr Kumar: So I was mentioning we do, it works both ways. So sometimes we, you know, when we're looking at content online, when we're looking at artists, we say, hey, we really like this person. Let's reach out and see if they want to work with us.
You might discover them on YouTube. You might discover them on Instagram. We just signed with a musician, Bhuvan, who's a Sufi singer.
We saw his videos on Instagram and we reached out and now we're working with him. He's touring in Australia already. And we're building out an international tour for him.
The other way is when artists reach out to us, they can ask us for representation.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: That must be tons of them reaching out to you.
Tusharr Kumar: Yes, a lot of people do. And now the best way to reach out is actually Instagram. So Instagram DMs are always flooded.
But I think what's really important for us when we do get rich is if we feel we're not able to add that value, you know, because with the artist management business, we're not trying to build a factory. We don't want to represent 300, 400, 500 people. We want to represent 100, 120 people who we enjoy working with.
Also, arts management isn't a business which you can run like a scaled mass production business, because it's so much personal touch. So that is why we're really careful with the people we work with.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: But talent management is a tough business in the sense, you know, it's, we love watching them as an audience, and I've interviewed them and you deal with them. But they're also people and in this day and age, because the internet has created many of them. I mean, the whole influencer marketing area is a completely internet created creature.
You know, as an influencer, because she was created outside the internet. And that's why she is important. But Rajatta Kohli or whoever, I'm taking names which come quickly to me, know this thing that OML ka talent nahi hai.
But how do you balance that thing, you know, because you're managing them, you're doing shows with them. Because they're also people, how do you handle the controversy part of it? You know, they're always bursting when I live in Pune.
So on Pune times, or Delhi times, or Bombay times. Some little thing, those poor guys can't have a personal life, I feel sometimes. But how do you handle it as the agency which is?
Tusharr Kumar: Right? No, I think as artist managers, that's always the most interesting part of the business. And you never get into artist management, if you want to build a safe business, right?
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: And art without controversy, no artist will suffer.
Tusharr Kumar: I mean, we don't want anyone to suffer. And obviously, we chat with them, based on the environment that exists. But I think, if artists don't create controversy, the world will be very boring.
And if artists don't have a voice, we won't have opinions out there. So I think it's really nice to be able to work with people who have opinions, which they wear on their shoulders, sometimes they get into trouble for it, sometimes, and then you have to manage the trouble with them. But I think, in general, as a business, yes, it is a challenging business to run.
And artist managers are some of the most amazing professionals you will meet up there. Because it's a 24 seven job, you're thinking that artist managers are multifaceted, right? You're thinking PR, you're thinking commercials, you're thinking travel, you're thinking calendars.
So it is also a profession which needs a lot of new talent to come in and grow as the industry is growing. But I feel like you can't run an artist management company being worried about the repercussions of it, you can talk to your artists to make sure that you're protected, and they are protected legally in the best way possible.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: If even if you, if on the agency side of the business, if a brand wants to, or on the branded content side of the business, if a brand wants to work with an artist who's not part of your portfolio, how is there a conflict? How do you handle it?
Tusharr Kumar: So that part of the business is a separate part like hypothesis. So for example, I influence a marketing agency. There, the business that we do is with artists represented by multiple agencies or even independently.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: So they're separate?
Tusharr Kumar: Absolutely, absolutely. Yes, yes. And we've never seen that conflict rise, you know, because whenever, whichever artist works best for the brand campaign, that's who we recommend.
And it could be artists, it could be someone else. And that's really worked well for us.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: You also handle some global content creators and artists. How does that work? And what are the, if I was to say any comparisons, like you, you do Bagadi events in Poland, or if you work in other markets?
So A, how is it handling artists or creators from other markets versus handling them in India? Are the ecosystems starkly different? And what are the challenges to both of them?
Tusharr Kumar: That you know, we've worked with, we've had the opportunity to work with artists actually across multiple countries now. And I think what's been interesting is, you know, we've worked in, say, a place like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the internet is still developing. In Russia, where we did a lot of work before the war used to actually be our largest market, even in terms of revenue.
And, which is very evolved with the creator ecosystem, very, very evolved in Russia, to say, working in Southeast Asia, in Thailand, in the Philippines, where they're still evolving. So I think working with artists across the world is similar, obviously, to their cultural nuances. So for example, when we did our first campaign in Japan, we sent the camera crew to the artists houses.
And then we didn't realise culturally in Japan, people don't allow outsiders into the houses. And it was a big challenge for us. So we had to shoot outdoors.
So we've had cultural nuances like that, which we've now learned over the years. But artists are very similar, right? They want to be able to express themselves.
They don't want brand messaging to drown out what they are trying to say or their style. But just different, different levels of evolution. So for example, when we did our first campaign in Lebanon, very interestingly, we worked with comedians in Lebanon.
Now we have had a lot of experience working with comedians in India. And Lebanon did not have a late night show. So we created Lebanon's first late night television show with a comedian.
And that was an amazing experience for us as well as for them. So it's been really great sort of dipping into what we learned in India and taking it to other parts of the world.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: But when you do this, like Lebanon or Russia, do you hire locals or do you handle the Indians? I'm just curious, how does it work?
Tusharr Kumar: Yeah, it's a combination. So like in Poland, we have three Polish employees who sort of work with us with a team from India as well. But for example, we also work with a lot of sort of consultants in those local markets, like in the Democratic Republic of Congo, none of us speak French in office.
So we have a partner who then helps us work with the right talent, helps us sort of shoot on ground partners who we're working with. So it all comes together.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: This is, you know, I find this very fascinating, this whole, see the agency business one gets the branded content, but this whole talent management is I don't think more than 10 to 15 years old, even as an ecosystem in India. I mean, if I look at the earlier avatars also, you know, if I was to ask you, what are the most exciting parts of the business right now? See, I'm more excited by the talent part.
But you know, when you look at the portfolio as a CEO, what is the most exciting part? What is the thing which makes you get up in the morning and say, oh, this is going to be fun? Because you are in a fun business in that sense?
Tusharr Kumar: Yeah, no, a very difficult question to answer. None of our businesses are boring, which is why it becomes difficult. But I think some of the things I'm really excited about right now is this sports content business we're building, because I do think sports entertainment and I don't mean sports, you know, in your the traditional way of just cricket and people watching football, the European matches, but I feel like how the leagues are growing.
Yes, some leagues are doing well, some are not. But you're seeing leagues pop up, you're seeing non mainstream sports coming to and you don't have to tune into television anymore, right? You're following sports on your Instagram feed.
So when the rugby league happened, I bet none of the people who watched the content on Instagram reels had seen rugby before as a sport. So again, you know, coming back to what we spoke about, the internet is changing, even access for so many things. So we have a lot of hope in sort of building this business out.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Okay. But are you looking at sports other than cricket? I hope?
Tusharr Kumar: Yeah, no, absolutely. So for example, while we do it, we did work with the Mumbai Indians on their content for the Instagram reels. We have worked with Kabaddi, we have worked with pickleball, we are currently speaking to two, three other sports, which are actually all non-cricket, you know, so for us, a lot of that is exciting.
And, you know, like what I was saying earlier, a lot of these sports didn't do well, because you didn't want to sit for one hour and watch a sport you didn't know. But now you don't mind engaging with. Exactly.
And that's completely changed everything.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: How qualifiable is that, Tushar? I mean, if you're engaging with a sport, but you're not into it. It's like F-Fun.
I feel people, Drive to Survive is a show, right?
Tusharr Kumar: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: People who know nothing about F-Fun got engaged with it and watched F-Fun the movie. But does that help? I don't know.
It helps build the sport to build revenues. But what does it do for the sport itself? Is what I'm wondering.
I'm just, I don't know.
Tusharr Kumar: No, it does help, you know, like when the Queen's Gambit came out on Netflix, and how chess sort of completely changed, right? And I think what Sameer Raina has done for chess in India is get Gen Z excited about chess. And I think the merging of pop culture, counterculture and sports is what is going to keep helping sports grow.
You know, now Wimbledon is as much about the cocktail that went viral, the fashion at the Wimbledon, and everything else. And if that is what is going to get young people excited to watch the sport, you know, great, at least it's getting people interested, and helping these sports, you know, stay relevant. So I'd look at it from that perspective.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Wimbledon is like this new Ascot of, Ascot used to be this horse race where women wore all these fancy clothes with hats and all. I think Wimbledon is a new Ascot. If I was to ask you, you know, what are the three big things, which your, you know, which your, which which OML has learned in these years, and which it is using in order to bid.
So you know, more than the learnings, it is what is going to be building this business going into the future. And I know KKR was invested into the company, correct? Now they've exited, if I'm not, who are the big investors?
They're still invested.
Tusharr Kumar: Yes, yes, yes. KKR are the largest, KKR via Emerald Media, which is holding KKR on Emerald Media. They're still our largest investors.
The Times Group as well, Vinit Jain's office. And then there are a few more people on the, on the cap table, but yes.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: I like the word cap table. I haven't heard it in such a long time, only investment bankers and private equity guys. How is growth coming from OML, both top line and bottom line? I mean, if I was to look at, because many of your investors will have some exits planned, etc.
So where is the growth, what is the growth truncate? That is essentially my final question.
Tusharr Kumar: I think we're seeing growth play out in two, three ways. And like I was talking about earlier, the work that we're doing on the agency side of the business has really been propelling this growth. And that's really driving revenues for us, both on the top line as well as on the bottom line.
What directly drives cultural growth for us is our artist management business, because that's very key. Numbers will never define what that business does for us and gives to us. So that will always be a key push for us.
And we've got a few interesting sorts of businesses coming up within the artist management space, which we will announce soon. And that really keeps us through to it, right. And then there's the business of long form content.
And that business makes amazing revenue in one year, and then maybe you wait for a few years till the next commissioning cycle and the next big show. So the OTG business is very seasonal for us. And like the next show, once it comes out, and then we have a few conversations on growth.
So that always brings in the surprises and positive surprises from time to time. But that's how sort of we're betting on all of the businesses.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: You know, I always wonder when you're saying your shows, etc. But that will be essentially, besides Zakir, I cannot remember which other standups you represent. But it has to be Zakir writing fresh material and, you know, you do a deal with Amazon, etc.
How does it work? Can you take me through one such thing? So where is the revenue split who comes in?
How does it work just for the lay people to understand?
Tusharr Kumar: Yeah, so for our long form business, we do sort of fiction and nonfiction shows both. So the standup, all of the standup shows, which you're talking about, like the nonfiction side of it, that's where you know, like you rightly said, a comic will tour typically with their show, which they will do across a year or sometimes a year and a half, and then eventually record it. Once it records, and not just OML artists, comedians all around, once it records, and then comedians take a call on whether they want to try to pitch it to an OTT platform, either to be commissioned or to be licensed.
Or YouTube's also sort of a great way for them to put that content out, right. And on YouTube, again, monetization is now not just the advertisements, but you could also have memberships, you can have super fans, etc. So YouTube's also got interesting ways of monetising beyond just the ad revenue.
And YouTube, like I was telling you earlier, feeds directly into ticket sales as well, because the audience at YouTube is larger than any, I mean, it is the largest OTT still, if you look at it. So yes, so that's sort of how it's split out when it comes to comedian specific content. And obviously, it's linked to comedians writing more and more and putting out content more and more.
On the fiction side of it, we work with creators across the board, right. So like the show I told you about Bandwale, which was directed by Akshat Varma and Ankur Tiwari was co-written by Swanan Kirkire and Ankur Tiwari, and we took it then to Amazon Prime, pitched it, and it got commissioned. So that's another route.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: How many people are your talent you manage? They are outside creators?
Tusharr Kumar: Absolutely. So as a production house, we work in a non-risk taking model. So we don't make and then try to sort of licence or sell.
But we have shows that we've built in-house with our team. And then we go out and pitch it. And if this gets commissioned, we go ahead and produce it.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Which is the big one on air right now?
Tusharr Kumar: The next one that's coming out is Bandwale. And the last show we delivered was Zakir's special again on Amazon Prime.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Super, super. That's really lovely. Thank you so much, Tushar.
I've learned so much. And I hope my audience has also learned a lot about OML. And you know, you're right, talent management is your soft power.
What you said about talent bids, you said you can't measure what it does. But it is, in a sense, your soft power. It brings in things which are not tangible to the business.
Tusharr Kumar: Very interesting.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar: Thank you so much, Tushar, for talking to me. It's been lovely.
Tusharr Kumar: Really great chatting with you. Thank you.
