Raj Mishra, MD and CEO, Chtrbox; Director, QYOU Media
The creator economy could absolutely become a multi trillion-dollar category over time, feels Raj Mishra, Group CEO of QYOU Media, the company that owns Chtrbox, the first pure-play influencer marketing company to list on the Indian stock exchange (in October 2025). Mishra, former country head of TikTok India (he was also its employee No. 1), says globally the creator economy market (this encompasses influencer marketing, content creation, platform payouts, and so on) is estimated at about $250 billion. The company went in for an IPO since it perceived the industry to be at an inflection point. Given how Unilever recently announced it was shifting 50 per cent of its ad budget to social media and influencer marketing, the IPO proved to be a good call for Chtrbox, which manages 104 creators through Chatterbox Represent. The influencer marketing firm’s results, posted on May 29, show a 42 per cent increase in operational revenue to ₹84.22 crore in FY26 from ₹59.12 crore in 2025, and a net profit of ₹9.2 crore.Excerpts from two separate conversations with Mishra:
What prompted the IPO?
It was about validating the creator economy as a serious investable sector in India. India is one of the fastest growing creative markets in the world. We have 80-100 million creators today. But monetisation per creator is still kind of a fraction of the global benchmark. So the gap between scale and monetisation is where the opportunity really lies for me and the company. The space has largely been fragmented and unstructured. Being public brings in some discipline, transparency and long-term thinking.
