Staff Reporter : Kolkata, 1st. July, 2025. Snapchat is strengthening its commitment to India’s thriving creator community by bringing its Snapchat Creator Connect initiative to Kolkata, as part of its broader push to grow in the East of India. This on-ground event aims to empower the next generation of story tellers, foster industry collaborations, and enhance opportunities for creators to grow their communities and monetize and scale their digital storytelling.
Creator Connect Kolkata underscores Snap’s deepening engagement with Creators and strategic partners in East India including top players such as Bengali and Bhojpuri media powerhouses, SVF (Hoichoi), Eskay Movies, Angel Digital (Klikk) for Bengali language content and Yashi Films, Vianet Media, and Dangal TV for Bhojpuri audiences.
These partnerships focus on educating and mentoring creators, highlighting programs like Snap School, which helps emerging talent refine their storytelling skills and leverage Snapchat’s tools to grow on the platform. Through content enablement programs like Savvy on Snap, Snap provides customized consulting support and resources to help partners bring the best of pop culture to their Snapchat communities. Further strengthening monetization opportunities, Snapchat is also deploying global creator-focused revenue share and rewards programs, ensuring creators can build sustainable careers while engaging their audiences. All these partnerships are supported by a dedicated local Partnerships team that helps educate, engage and grow their presence on the platform.
Saket Jha Saurabh, Director of Content and AR Partnerships, Snap Inc. commented, “The East of India has always been an epitome of art, music, literature, and community in the country. It’s truly fitting that we bring Snapchat Creator Connect to Kolkata, a city that perfectly embodies the region’s rich cultural and content legacy. We see tremendous potential in the region and believe it will play a significant role in accelerating the growth of Snap’s creator ecosystem. Whether it is Bengali, Bhojpuri, Odiya, Assamese or other Northeastern languages, content diversity and depth in this region is remarkable. Our goal is to leverage Snap’s unique product features including our short-form video surfaces Spotlight & Stories, AR lenses, and set-up initiatives and partnerships that help amplify local creators, culture and stories, and take them to a global audience. This is just the beginning for us.”
First in person event for Creators, Creator Agencies and local Publishers.
The event brought together over 100 top creators & Public Figures like The Bong Guy (Kiran Dutta), Neel Bhattacharya, Gourab Tapadar (Pretkotha Podcast) and Cuty Beauty Khan to talent agencies, brands, and industry partners. As part of the Creator led fires side chats, Priyam Ghose shared insights on creator experiences, growth, and sports on Snapchat, while Mahendra Soni from Shree Venkatesh Films provided a deep dive into Snap’s footprint in pop culture and music. Attendees explored how Snapchat’s content formats—Lenses, Spotlight, and Stories—enable creators to enhance discoverability, engage audiences, and scale their content into viable careers. Through hands-on sessions and expert-led discussions, Snapchat reinforced its creator-first approach, offering insights into monetization opportunities, audience engagement strategies, and the role of augmented reality (AR) in digital storytelling.
The evening also witnessed a huge line for the demo of the fifth generation of Spectacles firsthand—and the response was electric. As the crowd demoed the see-through AR glasses, from real-time Lenses to Spectator Mode, the seamless connection with mobile devices left the audience captivated. The audiences were also excited to hear about the launch of a new lightweight, immersive Specs by Snap in 2026.
Kolkata: An emerging market for Snapchat
Snapchat Creator Connect in Kolkata marks a significant milestone in the platform’s expansion into Eastern India, reflecting the region’s growing appetite for immersive and creative digital experiences. A remarkable 79% of Snapchatters in Kolkata use Lenses to celebrate special moments and connect with loved ones, showcasing the city’s immense potential as a hub for creator-driven growth and AR innovation.
Kolkata, renowned for its rich artistic heritage and vibrant cultural celebrations, was the ideal city for this initiative. To honour this creative spirit, Snapchat collaborated with celebrated pandal artists Justin Rozario & Nilavadas, transforming their hand-painted canvas into a dynamic AR mural where the city’s iconic Taxi brought the canvas to life.
By fostering a diverse content ecosystem, Snapchat remains dedicated to investing in India’s creator ecosystem, ensuring that the new generation of creators have the opportunity to share their stories, engage audiences, and grow their careers on a platform that champions authenticity and creativity.
