Pocket FM's creator economy reaches ₹300 crore

Pocket FM's creator economy has crossed ₹300 crore and aims to reach ₹1,000 crore by 2026. Over 10% of its monetised creators have collectively earned over ₹50 crore in 2025 alone. Over 300,000 creators published their first stories in the last year. The platform expects to reach 1 million creators by 2026.

The platform has enabled 300,000 first-time creators across India to publish their stories, build sustainable income streams, and reach audiences beyond traditional industry barriers. For decades, aspiring creators faced multiple challenges, from developing full scripts and finding creative support to navigating production workflows and securing distribution. Each step required time, resources, and access that were often difficult to obtain.

“Pocket FM’s AI Suite reimagines this process as an AI-powered writers’ room built for serialised fiction. The Planner Agent designs long-term arcs and character journeys, the Context Agent safeguards narrative continuity across episodes, and the Drama Agent refines pacing, tension, and cliffhangers. Together, in a continuous loop of planning, drafting, and refinement, these agents enable creators to build cohesive, long-form stories while preserving creative ownership and significantly reducing execution complexity.” said Prateek Dixit, Co-founder- Product, Tech and AI at Pocket FM

The platform’s data also reflects changing economics in creative work. More than 20% of creators now earn over ₹1 lakh per month, and the top 1% earn more than ₹50 lakh annually. 

Rohan Nayak Cofounder and CEO, Pocket FM said, “Our vision is clear. Creativity remains human, and Pocket FM’s AI Suite is designed to remove barriers to bringing that creativity to life.”

“This marks the end of the traditional ‘starving artist’ model,” Nayak added.“A creator from anywhere in India can now create professional-quality content and reach audiences at scale without traditional barriers.”

Democratising the creator economy

Around 90% of creators on the platform are first-time creators. Many had ideas and characters in mind but lacked guidance on narrative craft, structuring episodes, production or accessing distribution. 25% creators are students building storytelling careers while continuing their education, and AI-enabled production tools reduce the complexity that once required specialised teams. Creativity remains human, while the path from idea to publication becomes more accessible.

Pocket FM’s international expansion also reflects India’s growing role as a content originator. In 2025, several Indian IPs were localised for markets such as the United States and Europe, including titles like Mahagatha, Brahmyoddha-The Destroyer, and Brahmand Ka Rakshak. These stories, originally written in Hindi, are now reaching listeners across geographies. In 2026, the company plans to expand localisation across more than 50 Indian IPs.

"We always knew Indian stories had global potential. The constraint was infrastructure,” added Dixit. “Our AI stack fundamentally re-architects how content is localised and scaled. We use proprietary multilingual large language models to handle contextual translation and narrative restructuring. Our models are trained on cross-cultural storytelling patterns so they adapt not just words, but references, pacing, and emotional cadence for each market."

With a global creator community of over 300,000 creators, the platform generates more than 2.2 billion minutes of listening each month from creator-led audio series.

The bigger picture

Pocket FM’s experience shows how technology can support creative professionals. By ensuring creators retain the creative control, access transparent monetisation, and use AI as a production enabler, the platform is building a model where technology amplifies human creativity.

With India projected to have over 950 million internet users by 2030 and global demand for diverse storytelling growing, this milestone reflects a larger shift: India moving from content consumer to creative originator. The platform is actively partnering with streaming services and production houses seeking India-originated IP for adaptation into movies, TV shows, anime, and other formats.

Nayak said, “Our creators are already demonstrating that this model works. They are building audiences across markets and showing that Indian stories have strong global appeal. Our focus now is to scale this further by expanding into more languages, more markets, and enabling more creators to earn sustainable income.”

As more creators from across India publish their stories and earn recognition, this growth reflects the impact of policies that have supported digital access and innovation. India’s AI-enabled creator ecosystem is emerging from a combination of technology adoption, platform innovation, and a policy environment that encourages wider participation in the creative economy.