Firework videos will now show on Google Discover. (Image created by Gargi Singh) Videos from US-based short videos platform Firework now appear on the Google Discover feed in India. The Google Discover feed shows content from various sources based on a user’s interests and it will be the first time that short videos will also start to appear on the feed.
In October, Google had rolled out the Web Stories format for Discover in India, allowing publishers to post visual stories, similar to how it works on Instagram or Snapchat, but tailored and designed for the Discover Feed. Now Short Videos will appear as a dedicated tab in the Discover platform as well.
“Firework short video stories are available to all users of Google Discover in India. We are excited that our creators and partners are able to reach a huge audience through this integration,” Sunil Nair, CEO Firework India and EMEA confirmed in a statement to indianexpress.com. “Globally Firework powers short stories into ecosystems that have large audiences and Discover is part of such an initiative. Firework works with digital publishers, apps and connected TVs to help them adopt short stories that are now a must have for audience engagement.”
When reached out for a comment, a Google spokesperson said, “We’re constantly looking for ways to make Search more helpful to people in India, and are often experimenting with new features so people can get access to high quality information online.”
Firework is a Silicon Valley-born startup, found in 2018. Unlike other short video apps, the focus is on helping publishers and creators create content which can be posted anywhere, rather than one app. While Firework also looks at short video creation, it is different compared to the traditional apps such TikTok or Instagram Reels.
The company recently announced a new framework called Original Story Page or OSP, where the platform is owned by the content creator or brand or publisher. The OSP Firework allows content creators and other users to own their own page/destination, and they can monetise it as well.
With Firework, creators or publishers can post their videos on the open web and this can be amplified to more than 500 publisher partners across the world. Globally some of the partners for Firework are Vice, Brut, Bloomberg, Refinery 29, NDTV, Condenast, Xiaomi, Samsung and more.