More than 140 billion Reels play across Facebook and Instagram every day, says Manish Chopra of Meta

There are more than 140 billion Reel playing across Facebook and Instagram every single day, said Manish Chopra, Director, and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India (Meta). 

Chopra was speaking at the last leg of Meta Creator Day 2022 in India. During the event, he said that there is a 50% increase in Reel video consumption from just six months ago.

‘Creator Day’ is Meta's annual flagship event to celebrate creators, as they best reflect the way its platforms are used by people to share, express themselves and be entertained. The 2022 version of the event took place across four cities - Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai, before coming to Delhi.

Meta Creator Day is part of Meta’s Global Creator Week where meetups are happening across the world, including in Los Angeles, Indonesia and Brazil.

Present at the event were several known content creators like Kusha Kapila, Sukriti Grover, Dolly Singh, Shlok Srivastava, Aksh Baghla, Avneet Kaur, Game Guru, Komal Pandey and many more. 

There were also special performances by actor Varun Dhawan and singer Tanishk Bagchi to entertain the audience present at the event. 

Chopra addressed the creators in the audience and said, “We are big fans of creators. Everything we do, all our products and features are based on only one thought - how we can empower the people who have a story to tell, an insight to share or a song to dance to. A lot of the products we build at Meta are keeping in mind what the content creators like or dislike.” 

He said that the explosion in the short-video content space and the impact it is creating is led by Reels. He believes that content creators are creating art, shaping culture and changing minds while creating a short video. 

Chopra said, “A few years ago, a film from the South like Pushpa or a song sung by a peanut seller in West Bengal would have just remained a regional trend. Be it from India or from outside, people who don’t understand Indian languages or even know these creators are making reels on them. Passion travels.” 

He told the audience that content creator Amulya Rattan from Chandigarh is not just doing music videos but is recognised as the cultural ambassador by the Ministry of Culture. Navin Singh, known as Bihari Ladka, travelled to Australia and collaborated with cricketers on the lines of the recent India-Pak match. Content creators are breaking barriers, he stated. 

He added, “This is the reason why we created a programme like One Minute Music. Music has a huge role in shaping popular culture. This programme was created to help artists drop original songs, especially meant for reels. Today there are 100 songs which are part of this programme and the number keeps rising every day.” 

Chopra went on to tell the audience that the Kaala Chashma trend that started in June has now been featured in 3.5 lakh reels across the globe. 

Chopra also talked about Meta’s ‘Born on Instagram’ programme during his address and said that almost 2.2 lakh people have registered for the programme which is available to access for free in seven different languages in India.

Chopra believes that a key pillar of India's new economy is going to be fueled by content creators. He explained, “You are entrepreneurs in your own world. It’s a creator who will decide and shape how brands are discovered and what products people buy into. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that many of you are going to become owners of big influential brands and businesses.”