For aspiring filmmakers, creating a film is just the beginning. The real challenge is viewership, distribution, and monetizaton in a heavily competitive industry—areas that many struggle with. Shortfundly, a media-tech startup founded by Selvam M, bridges this gap.
The Shortfundly digital platform primarily operates as an OTT (Over-The-Top) marketplace, offering a wide range of short films, web series, and indie content. The platform is designed to support and promote independent filmmakers by providing them with tools to validate, market, and monetize their content.
Selvam likens Shortfundly’s platform and services to Zoho’s suite of products that serve as an operating system for businesses.
"Zoho has built products for everything a business needs - from revenue generation to customer relationship management. We took the same approach with Shortfundly. We are building tools and services–an operating system–for filmmakers to make their projects a commercial success.”
For India’s independent filmmakers, Shortfundly has emerged as a top OTT platform, driven by key metrics: over 5,000 filmmakers, thousands of diverse content pieces (short films, web series, documentaries, etc.), and a dedicated audience of approximately 35,000 monthly active viewers. This combination of factors establishes Shortfundly as a vital hub for independent cinematic expression.
In a conversation with ProdWrks, Selvam shares his vision for building the world’s largest short film repository, aiming to carve out a unique niche in the booming OTT market. With the OTT industry valued at USD 61.40 billion in 2024 and projected to grow from USD 71.11 billion in 2025 to USD 266.31 billion by 2034, his venture is set to capitalize on this rapid expansion.
Shortfundly’s Evolution - From Aggregator to OTT Marketplace
Selvam explains, "We evolve based on market demand, constantly rebuilding and rebranding to meet industry needs. Seven years ago, YouTubers and influencers weren’t mainstream career paths. Today, we aim to create a similar category for independent filmmakers—where they can focus on storytelling, create films, and generate revenue just like influencers do with content."
Selvam shares that this shift was influenced by the internet revolution, particularly the transformative impact of Jio on digital consumption. As digital streaming surged, Shortfundly expanded beyond short films to include web series, documentaries, and full-length movies based on user demand.
"Filmmakers on our platform started with short films but later transitioned into other content like web series and documentaries," Selvam notes. "They reached out to us for promotion, and we added categories accordingly."
End-to-End Post Production Support for Indie Filmmakers
“We also provide SaaS Whitelabel Solutions for building custom OTT apps and offer verified OTT IDs to enhance networking within the industry,” Selvam explains.
For independent filmmakers, the platform provides essential services during the post-production phase, including:
- OTT Release & Distribution: Enables filmmakers to release films and earn monthly revenue from streaming.
- OTT Certificate: Before releasing a film online or on an OTT platform, filmmakers can obtain a Censor E-Certificate through Shortfundly for online film distribution.
- Screening & Ticket Sales: Allows filmmakers to earn revenue from ticketed screenings.
- Film Review: Shortfundly’s creative team provides professional reviews to help filmmakers maximize their reach.
- Promotions: Runs targeted campaigns, including celebrity endorsements, promotional posts, etc., to maximize visibility and engagement.
Selvam emphasizes the need for such services: "Independent filmmakers often lack dedicated teams for marketing and PR. We provide them with the necessary tools to tap into mainstream OTT players and connect with a wider audience."
Democratizing the OTT Landscape with White-Label SaaS Solutions
Shortfundly’s recent service offering is a white-label SaaS solution designed for media and entertainment businesses looking to launch their own OTT platforms. Selvam believes that this approach aims to expand the OTT ecosystem and make it accessible to individual creators and media brands.
"If a media company wants to launch an OTT platform, we white-label our entire tech stack under their brand," Selvam explains. "This isn’t about competition; it’s about giving content creators more opportunities to reach wider audiences."
Selvam debunks the common perception that the media business is expensive and that OTT platforms can only be built by giants like Sony or Amazon.
“We want to change that. If a content creator has their own fan following, they should be able to launch their own OTT platform and generate revenue from it."
How Shortfundly Helps Indie Filmmakers Reach Global Audience?
However, launching films popular OTT platforms is challenging for independent filmmakers. Their content might be great, but it’s a constant struggle to adapt to the “business aspect of promoting, distributing, and monetizing their content.”
“Independent and aspiring filmmakers may have great film-making skills but they can't solely think as content creators. They also have to think about how to market, curate, and connect their content to the industry. So we help them release their content on Shortfundly's OTT and validate their work by providing proof of viewership across multiple platforms."
By licensing content from its repository, Shortfundly serves as a content hub for other OTT platforms, ensuring independent filmmakers gain global visibility.
Shortfundly’s distribution engine connects student filmmakers with global OTT platforms, partnering with MX Player, OTT Play, Hungama, Jio Set-Top Box, Amazon Fire TV, ABC Talkies, and BCII Net, supporting content in over 50+ languages and 30+ genres.
How OTT Platforms Benefit
For OTT platforms, the curated repository of films in Shortfunly solves a major bottleneck: discovery of quality content that is suitable for their platforms.
Selvam states, "Lakhs of stories are submitted to OTT platforms every day, and many independent filmmakers’ scripts often go unheard. With such high volumes, OTT platforms have no efficient way to filter and select content. Our platform simplifies content discovery by allowing OTTs to directly access and license pre-valideated content."
Pre-validation, as Selvam mentions, means films that have a good reach and engagement on the Shortfundly platform. Shortfundly makes these reports available for the OTT players, making it easy for them to pick content for their platforms.
Shortfundly also offers a certification service for short films to ensure compliance with OTT platform guidelines. Unlike feature films, which require certification before theatrical release, short films often lack a formal verification process.
Selvam explains, "Feature films require certification before theatrical release, but no such system exists for short films. That’s why we introduced this initiative. For example, a drug scene without a proper label would violate OTT policies. Our certification process ensures that short film content is regulated and meets platform requirements."
Growth Strategy
Shortfundly’s growth has been driven by two key factors: Integrations with other marketplaces and a strong community-led approach to reach more filmakers. By leveraging an API-driven architecture, the platform ensures accessibility across web, mobile, and smart TV applications, maximizing its reach.
Selvam explains, "Our app is available on the Paytm Mini App Store. Integration is key to expanding our user base. We've also partnered with Jio, integrating our OTT platform into the Jio set-top box, allowing Jio users to subscribe and explore our content."
“Word-of-mouth within these creative circles fueled early adoption, leading to organic growth across regions and languages,” Selvam shares. "When we started, we didn’t have many distribution partners. Short film events are our go-to-market strategy. Word spread, and we built a strong community that now speaks for us.”
User acquisition and Retention
Shortfundly’s web platform platform sees steady engagement, with 30K monthly active users and the mobile app having 39K users.
Shortfundly evaluates its growth through measurable KPIs, focusing on user acquisition, content distribution, and audience engagement. The platform gains around 100 new users weekly, tracks OTT releases and distribution requests, and leverages influencers to boost visibility. Review videos serve as a key performance metric, with a minimum benchmark of 100K views to gauge reach and impact.
Selvam explains, “My main KPI is how much reach I have—the basic expectation is that it should cross at least 100K for the reviews. Most of my reviews meet this threshold. Some award-winning short films reviewed by influencers get 100K, 200K, or even 300K views. We have established a strong presence among the Tamil audience and aim to do the same for other languages.”
“This is our strategy to retain the viewers. Feature films do not get released as often but that is not the case with short films and short-form content. That’s the advantage that we have”
Selvam explains, "Filmmakers on our platform who started with short films are now evolving to create web series, documentaries, and more. To support their growth, we had to scale horizontally and expand our offerings."
The On Seasons and Off Seasons for OTT Platforms
Selvam mentions, "If an IPL match is going on or Bigg Boss is being streamed, no matter what content you provide, the audience will not watch it. During this time, new user onboarding and viewership will be lower."
Monetization Strategy
Shortfundly follows a three-pronged monetization strategy for its OTT marketplace:
- Licensing revenue from OTT players who access Shortfundly’s library of films and web-sereies.
- Revenue from filmmakers who access Shortfundly’s platform and services to showcase, promote, and distribute their films.
- User generated revenue from viewers who subscribe to Shortfundly OTT to watch content. This also includes advertisement revenues due to viewership.
Commenting on the user-generated revenue, Selvam shares that unlike YouTube, which imposes monetization restrictions based on watch hours and subscriber counts, Shortfundly’s OTT marketplace follows a ticket-based model.
“Viewers purchase a ticket to watch content on our platform, and the revenue goes directly to the creators."
Selvam explains, “With so many OTT platforms available, our viewers may already have multiple subscriptions and may not want another one. A ticket-based model lets them pay and watch only for the content they choose to watch. It gives them more flexibility and choice.”
The ticketing-based option for the viewers on its OTT platform, allows them to pay only for the content they choose to watch before committing to a subscription.
While users are flocking to Shortfundly, Selvam shares that his biggest challenge is onboarding distribution platforms.
"I'm now trying to onboard Sony for as our OTT partner. It's been six months. Positioning yourself in the industry is a challenge."
On a concluding note, Selvam shares a positive advice to other founders looking to enter the market, “If you have a strong footprint and business idea, you’re welcome. The market is huge—not just in India, but globally.”
