MUMBAI:  Some people know him for popularising chess to the masses, Others know him as one of the most popular comedians in India but Samay Raina is now also an entertainment-preneur – making a business out of his entertainment.

Six months ago, Samay created a show on YouTube called India's Got Latent. The show allows people to showcase their  talent or skill in front of a panel of judges curated by Samay Raina. Not another talent show? Hasn’t viewer fatigue set in?

But, wait, India’s Got Latent is not just another talent show. For one,  it’s totally irreverent as far as its contestants, judges and special guests are concerned. Then it’s ticketed and the  live audience pays Rs 2,000 to just get in. Other talent shows decide the winner based on who gets the highest score. But not on Samay’s India’s Got Latent.  Contestants/participants score themselves individually  before they strut their stuff on stage. Then it’s the turn of the judges.  If the contestant’s  scores matches with the score given by the jury  he or she is the winner. and goes home with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, which is given by the sponsor of the episode.
 

The show combines humour (it’s very north Indian and we’d say GenZ, full of free flowing cuss words and double entendres) with a talent showcase giving an opportunity to common-as-garden individuals to present their talents.

This unique show became viral like no other IP on YouTube, and it has been attracting subscribers like flies to a honeypot. The number has reached 6.7 million subscribers at the time of writing.Each episode is doing an average of 25 million with the recent ones clocking 30 plus million views.  

So strong is the pull, that Samay has dared to make bonus episodes available on membership (a monthly subscription to its YouTube channel). Estimates are that he has close to 500,000  paid subscribers coughing up Rs 60 each a month which gets him about Rs 2 crore a month, deducting YouTube fees.

India’s got Latent has become so popular not only on YouTube free and membership that it has encouraged Samay Raina to create a streaming app. Yes, a streaming app, and he announced on his Instagram handle that it’s there for downloading.  

He also said he’s got more – many more  IPs  in production - a poetry show and a rap competition which will be available on a monthly subscription of Rs 59. There will be some other services available including tickets to his shows in the app. At the time of writing, India’s Got Latent had reached amongst the top 50  downloaded apps in the country on the Google Playstore and at No 1 on the Appstore. That too within a day of its introduction on the two stores.

Not just that. Samay has a north American tour Samay Raina Unfiltered planned between February and March first week with 10 shows  each planned for Canada and the US. Tickets for these are  already on sale online and they are selling out fast.

Clearly, this is one social media sensation who is taking advantage of the right samay (time) and cashing it in.