Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Sep 9: Kuku Technologies, the mobile-first content company behind Kuku TV and Kuku FM, is planning to expand its artificial intelligence-driven production unit to around 1,000 employees by the end of the current financial year, as it scales up production of micro-dramas for Indian and global audiences.
The Mumbai-based AI-native production unit has already hired nearly 200 people, bringing together writers, filmmakers, engineers and other creative and technical professionals, according to people familiar with the company's plans.
The company is developing what sources describe as a proprietary AI Storytelling Stack, which integrates artificial intelligence across different stages of the storytelling and production process. The system is being built using Kuku's experience in content production, billions of user-consumption data points and insights from thousands of content pieces.
Rather than developing individual AI tools, Kuku is working on an integrated system covering various aspects of content creation, including story development, dialogue, visual direction and maintaining narrative continuity across long-running series.
The new unit includes writers working on stories and dialogues, filmmakers, including professionals trained at institutions such as the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), and engineers from IITs and NITs who are developing systems to maintain continuity in AI-generated series.
Kuku expects its AI-led business to eventually contribute 80 to 90 per cent of its overall revenue. The company is also targeting more than 100 million users within six months and plans to produce more than 2,000 shows for Indian and international markets during the same period, according to sources.
The company believes its AI-based production model could significantly reduce the cost and time involved in creating micro-dramas, a rapidly growing category of short-form serialised video content.
According to sources, Kuku expects production costs for its micro-drama content to be around 30 to 50 per cent of comparable production costs in China, which is currently the world's largest micro-drama market and a major exporter of such content.
Producing one minute of micro-drama content in China typically costs more than $150, while Kuku can produce comparable-quality content for less than $100 per minute. In other markets, higher computing and human-resource costs can make similar production 1.5 to three times more expensive, sources said.
The company says the savings come from requiring fewer people and significantly less production time than conventional shoots. Kuku's AI systems also require fewer rounds of content regeneration, reducing one of the major costs associated with AI-assisted video production.
As a result, one person can reportedly produce around 20 minutes of usable finished video in a day, compared with roughly one minute of usable footage produced during a traditional shoot day.
The expansion of the AI production unit comes as Kuku scales its micro-drama business and prepares for a potential initial public offering. The Economic Times reported that Kuku Technologies has confidentially filed papers for a proposed Rs 3,500-crore IPO, although the company has not publicly commented on the matter.
Kuku Technologies operates Kuku FM and Kuku TV and has been expanding from audio entertainment into short-form video and AI-powered storytelling. The company sees India's large pool of relatively cost-effective, English-proficient creative and technical talent as an advantage as demand for personalised, high-volume video content grows globally.
Kuku declined to comment on queries regarding its AI production plans.