Here's how Bhuvan Bam gained 99% of his first million followers from Pakistan

New Delhi: With more than 26 million followers just on YouTube, what Bhuvan Bam has achieved through his social media is nothing short of celebrity status. After taking the internet by storm nearly a decade ago, Bam shot to fame in Pakistan first. Yes, you heard that right.

Speaking at GroupM’s seventh edition of the annual event ‘Brew’ on Wednesday in Gurugram, Bhuvan Bam spilled the beans about his Pakistan connection. “The fourth video on my YouTube channel, BB Ki Vines, went viral at a university in Karachi and suddenly there was a sudden influx of 25,000 followers on Facebook. Among the people who started following me, I was looking for names of the likes of Yadav, Sharma, and Kaushik, but all my comments were from Islamabad and Rawalpindi.”

What’s even more surprising is the fact that Bam was first advised by a Pakistani folk to upload his videos on YouTube. “When BB Ki Vines clocked 1 million followers back in 2016, more than 9,90,000 of my followers were from Pakistan. And everyone in India thought I was born and raised in Karachi,” elaborated Bam.

At the fireside chat event labelled ‘Conquering Audiences: Musings Ft. Bhuvan Bam,’ Bam mentioned a humour-evoking event when someone in Delhi complimented him in Urdu because he thought Bam was born and brought up in Karachi. “I soon had this realisation that I needed to reach out to the Indian audience first so gradually I started mentioning my Delhi connection in interviews,” Bam further added.

Being the flag bearer of organic social media growth powered purely by content, Bam is a marketing genius. When asked about how he has grown rapidly over the past few years, Bam said, “Over the years as a creator, I have realised that I need to be sure that if I say something, it will travel much faster and to a ‘massier’ audience if the messaging is done organically.”

Further sharing his experience surrounding brand collaborations, he gave an example of how absurd brands can be at times. “I was making a jingle for a brand once, and there was a shot in my video where I was deep-frying my vegetables. The marketers from the brand came up to me and advised me to use red chilli powder instead of green chilli for more impact.”

From being a YouTuber to launching a series of his own, Bam has maintained his popularity without riding on the wave of trends. From the horse’s mouth, “My focus has always been on the broader audience; I want to create something so that when someone looks at it, they go and tell ten other people about how well they relate to the video. I think that’s my secret to consistency.”

Moving further into the session, Bam spoke about how he uses personal anecdotes to bring in relativity among a wide user base. “My characters, be they from BB Ki Vines or Taaza Khabar, all my sketches were inspired by my personal life, which is so happening in itself. To be there in the long run, I try featuring characters that bring extreme relatability to the table. People come and tell me that the video I uploaded yesterday has been the way of life for them for the past six years. This is what organic content means for me.”

Elaborating on his involvement in the creative production process, Bam stated his commitment to the creative process, starting from ideation to the very last day of marketing. “If I give an entire year to a project, I want to utilise it to the fullest. The buck stops with me; I do not like leaving the post-production process to other people, as I am fully aware that no one can market me better than myself.”

“Trends come and go but legends stay forever” is something we have all heard of as audiences. Touching upon how Bam has maintained his relevance in the world of trends that change with each passing day, Bam said, “I do not have a process; it is purely instinct and gut. I had this realisation that while I have grown older, from starting BB Ki Vines at 22 years of age to being 30 now, my audience has also grown with me. So, I make content that resonates with me on an individual level.”

Adding more to the bucket of thoughts, Bam mentioned how his hunger to reach a wider audience forced him to step out of the four walls of his room and take bold steps. As Bam perceives it, “Before the release of Dhindora, we pulled off getting a huge poster with a QR code on the front page of a newspaper. The QR code opened the link for the first page of Dhindora and the reach that we gathered was close to 100 million. 

Post the success of Dhindora, a grandmother sent me a direct message on Instagram telling me how Dhindora took her back to her college days. I could have never imagined this reach if I did not diversify my content to reach a wider audience.”

Despite his fame, Bam's journey was not without challenges. He spoke about the difficulties of auditions and the scepticism he faced when he initially shared his humorous ideas. Looking ahead, as Bam continues to evolve as a creator, his primary focus remains on delivering quality content through various projects in the pipeline.