Flipkart Acquires Majority Stake in Pinkvilla To Woo GenZs

SUMMARY

The ecommerce major has acquired a majority stake in the digital media platform for an undisclosed sum

WIth this, Flipkart aims to strengthen its appeal to younger audiences by leveraging Pinkvilla’s established presence and content expertise

Flipkart sees movies and celebrity-driven infotainment as key drivers of trends and consumption, making Pinkvilla’s platform a natural fit for its engagement strategy

In an effort to expand its content offerings, ecommerce major Flipkart has acquired a majority stake in Pinkvilla India, a digital media platform for an undisclosed sum.

The move forms part of Flipkart’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its appeal to younger audiences, especially Gen Z and millennials, by drawing on Pinkvilla’s established presence and content expertise.

Flipkart said that by using Pinkvilla’s brand and devoted audience, it plans to reinforce engagement with younger users, a demographic influenced strongly by trends in movies and celebrity culture.

The company sees movies and celebrity-driven infotainment as key drivers of trends and consumption, making Pinkvilla’s platform a natural fit for its engagement strategy. Flipkart also aims to gain real-time insights on emerging trends and develop commerce-related content, deepening its footprint in the Indian digital ecosystem.

Founded in 2007 by Nandini Shenoy, Pinkvilla is largely a bootstrapped infotainment platform. A third of the website’s traffic comes from the US, the platform claims to have more than 60 Mn readers. As of FY24, the startup earned INR 15.2 in operating revenue at a net loss of INR 1.4 Cr.

“Pinkvilla’s robust content IPs and strong connection with its loyal audience base are assets that will accelerate our efforts to leverage content as a key driver of growth,” Ravi Iyer, Senior VP, Flipkart said in a statement.

The platform, Pinkvilla, is expected to continue operating under its own brand, while integrating more closely with Flipkart’s suite of offerings to enable new opportunities across content-led commerce.

This development comes at a time when ecommerce players are aggressively scaling their own content ecosystems. Flipkart’s fashion platform Myntra, for instance, recently launched Glamstream, a shoppable video platform offering more than 500 hours of short-form premium content– all integrated with Myntra’s product catalogue.

Similarly, Nykaa has built a multi-channel content strategy with Nykaa TV on YouTube, its Beauty Book blogs, DIY tutorials, and influencer-driven programs like the Nykaa Army. Amazon was already leading the ecosystem with its OTT offering Prime.

Flipkart recently rolled out Flipkart Black, a paid subscription service positioned as a competitor to Amazon Prime. The offering bundles perks such as a complimentary one-year YouTube Premium membership, 5% SuperCoins cashback (capped at INR 100 per order), and exclusive ‘Black Deals’ on premium brands.