Mumbai: Social storytelling platformWattpad has appointed Devashish Sharma as its first country manager for India.
From Mumbai, Sharma will focus on expanding Wattpad’s Indian user base and its partnerships with studios, publishers and brands. It has 2.6 million monthly users in India currently, with some 4 million story uploads.
“India is home to some of the most creative storytellers on the planet, with the most exciting literary and entertainment sectors anywhere,” said Allen Lau, CEO and co-founder of Wattpad.“With millions of Indian users and stories already on Wattpad, we have a tremendous opportunity to help Indian writers build a global audience, and work with local studios and publishers to find new voices. Devashish understands both the product and community sides of technology, which is the perfect combination to help us expand our business in India.”
“Wattpad is bringing something truly unique to the global entertainment industry: a data-backed and audience-first approach to development,” said Sharma.“India’s media market is growing at an incredible pace, with producers and OTT services struggling to meet the demand for local content. India is a land of stories, and I can’t wait to tap into the incredible local talent on Wattpad to create hits for Indian and international audiences.”
Sharma will report to Ivan Yuen, chief product officer and co-founder of the company. The news of Sharma’s role follows the appointment of Dexter Ong as head of Asia for Wattpad Studios in April.
Wattpad is an Internet community for readers and writers to publish new user-generated stories in different genres, including classics, general fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, poetry, fanfiction, spiritual, humor, and teen fiction.
