Microsoft-owned LinkedIn to launch its video offering in India to tap the short-video market

Satya Nadella-led Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn is set to launch a new video experience in India, aiming to tap into the burgeoning short-form video market, currently valued at $5.5 billion.

The move comes as LinkedIn has observed a 60% increase in video uploads in India, compared to a global increase of 45%.

The platform aims to leverage this trend to enhance user engagement related to knowledge sharing, career coaching, and professional development.

Why is LinkedIn focusing on video content?

Gyanda Sachdeva, LinkedIn’s vice-president of product management, emphasized the company’s vision to create economic opportunities for every professional.

“When we think about LinkedIn and our vision, which is to create economic opportunities for every profession in the workforce. I think we do a really good job of it, but we do it infrequently, once every few years when someone is looking for a job, once every year when someone is looking for a business lead," Sachdeva told ET. 

Sachdeva believes that increasing the frequency of economic opportunities can be achieved through knowledge sharing via video content. 

“We are seeing incredible engagement from our members, who are increasingly using LinkedIn to stay updated on job trends, build networks, and gain knowledge. Every minute on LinkedIn, nearly 6 people are hired, over 9,000 connections form, and more than 100 hours of learning content is consumed," said Ajay Dutta, Head of Product Management at LinkedIn India.

What kind of content will be featured?

LinkedIn’s video content will focus on knowledge sharing, news, skilling, professional development, career coaching, workplace culture, interview preparation, and resume building.

“On LinkedIn, knowledge sharing, news, skilling, professional development, career coaching, workplace culture, interview preparation and resume building, product launches, earnings releases and other announcements are going to be the common use cases," Sachdeva said.

Additionally, light-hearted content such as corporate humor is expected to be popular.

Aiming to make knowledge sharing more immersive and meaningful

The new swipe-based video feature aims to make knowledge sharing more immersive and meaningful, helping professionals to benefit from the collective wisdom and shared experiences of their networks.

Dutta explained, “Our new video experience aims to make knowledge sharing more immersive and meaningful, enabling members to benefit from the collective wisdom and shared experiences of their networks.”

The initiative comes at a time when 60% of India's internet users, over 350 million people, are consuming video content.

Partnering with top entrepreneur creators

LinkedIn plans to collaborate with top entrepreneur creators such as Jay Singh, business leader Namita Thapar, and YouTuber Arun Prabhudesai to drive engagement.

The company also has plans to monetize the video offering through advertisements and collaborations.

Sachdeva highlighted that they are working with these creators and added, “We don’t really care about any other subset of content such as fitness, parenting, fashion which is popular on other platforms.”