On 28 October, OpenAI declared that starting on November 4, ChatGPT Go will be free for a year for all Indian users. The package, which now costs INR 399 a month, will be made available as part of a temporary promotion that takes place in conjunction with the company’s first DevDay Exchange event in Bengaluru.
Since ChatGPT Go was first introduced in India a few months ago, the firm has been inspired by the ingenuity and uptake of its users, said Nick Turley, Vice-President and Head of ChatGPT. To assist more people access and benefit from cutting-edge AI, the company is making ChatGPT Go freely available for a year ahead of its first DevDay Exchange event in India. “We’re excited to see the amazing things our users will build, learn, and achieve with these tools,” Turley stated.
Free Subscription also Available for Existing ChatGPT Go Subscribers
According to OpenAI, the free-access offer’s sign-up period will begin on November 4. The 12-month promotion will also apply to current ChatGPT Go members in India; further information will be available soon. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-5 model, ChatGPT Go is the company’s newly released subscription tier that gives customers more access to premium services like longer memory, more picture generation, higher message limits, and expanded file and image uploads.
ChatGPT Go was released in August 2025 in response to Indian users’ desire for more reasonably priced access to cutting-edge features. India’s paid ChatGPT user base more than doubled in the first month after its debut. Since then, the service has grown to almost 90 markets worldwide.
India a Massive Market for ChatGPT
India is one of ChatGPT’s fastest-growing and second-largest markets. Today, millions of individuals utilise ChatGPT every day for learning, productivity, and creativity. These users include professionals, students, and developers.
According to OpenAI, the free-access campaign demonstrates its “India-first” stance and advances the IndiaAI Mission, which aims to increase indigenous innovation capability, promote digital inclusiveness, and increase access to artificial intelligence tools. In order to encourage responsible AI use and skill development across the country, the company is also collaborating with government programmes, educational institutions, and civil society groups under the IndiaAI Mission.
Quick Shots
•On October 28, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Go will be free
for one year for all Indian users starting November 4.
•The subscription, usually priced at INR 399 per month, is now
part of a special promotional offer tied to OpenAI’s first DevDay Exchange
event in Bengaluru.
•The 12-month complimentary plan applies to both new and
existing ChatGPT Go subscribers in India.
•More details on sign-up and activation will be shared by OpenAI
soon.
•The offer begins November 4, 2025.
•ChatGPT Go was launched in August 2025 following strong demand
for affordable AI access.
It looks like Bharti Airtel is adding more bundled digital services for its Indian consumers. According to reports, the telecom operator has extended its collaboration with Apple, which was previously restricted to postpaid and broadband consumers, by providing free access to Apple Music for its prepaid customers.
The action was taken only a few weeks after Airtel gained notoriety for giving its customers free access to the premium artificial intelligence application Perplexity AI Pro. Telecom Talk was the first to notice that some Airtel prepaid users have started to see the Apple Music offer within the Airtel Thanks app. Users can take advantage of the streaming service for free for a maximum of six months, according to the banner.
How Long Will Airtel’s Free Apple Music Subscription Last?
The subscription will automatically renew at INR 119 per month after the free period expires. Details regarding the eligibility requirements are still unknown, as Airtel has not yet made a formal announcement. To find out if the perk is accessible for their account, consumers can log into the Airtel Thanks app. It’s interesting to note that the offer was observed even on a 5G plan that wasn’t limitless, indicating that it could not be limited to certain expensive recharges.
Airtel’s Digital Bundles: From Perplexity AI Pro to OTT Packs
This new addition is a component of Airtel’s comprehensive content aggregation strategy. In order to offer top-notch entertainment and productivity tools under its recharge packs, the company has been aggressively collaborating with both Indian and international platforms. Airtel established an association with Apple last year to provide its customers subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music. This was first made available to postpaid and broadband users in February 2025, but it now appears that the massive prepaid base is also benefiting.
Apple Music, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and More in Airtel Plans
Airtel also just unveiled new recharge options that provide customers access to more than 25 OTT platforms together with broadband and unlimited calls. Among them are well-known brands including Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV, Lionsgate Play, Hoichoi, SunNxt, and Aha.
According to Airtel, the packs would serve a variety of audiences nationwide by providing entertainment in over 16 languages. For instance, the INR 279 prepaid plan gives subscriptions to Netflix Basic, Zee5, Disney+ Hotstar, and Airtel Xstream Play Premium and has a one-month validity period. Airtel emphasised that the OTT subscriptions included in this plan are valued at around INR 750. The same pack is also offered as a “content-only” recharge, which comes with 1GB of data per month and all the same OTT perks.
For heavy users, Airtel offers a plan for INR 598 that includes 28-day valid OTT subscriptions, unlimited 5G data, and unlimited calling. The most expensive recharge plan, INR1,729, provides 84 days of unlimited 5G internet and voice calls along with the same selection of streaming services.
Quick
Shots
•Airtel now offering free Apple Music
subscription to prepaid users (earlier limited to postpaid & broadband).
•Free for up to 6 months; auto-renews
at INR 119/month after trial.
•Seen in Airtel Thanks app;
eligibility unclear, but appears across plans including non-unlimited 5G
packs.
•Move comes weeks after Airtel offered
free Perplexity AI Pro access to users.
A software-facilitated economy created on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, Spotify, Substack, OnlyFans, Tiki, and Patreon that allows creators and influencers to earn revenue is known as the Creator Economy.
As the internet evolved over the years, so did its use. The virtual universe of the world wide web became the home of not just users and consumers, but creators. Individuals turned producers managing their own brands. This resulted in revolutionizing the way content was produced, distributed, and consumed. And the Creator Economy came into being.
It was Paul Saffo from Stanford University who suggested that the creator economy came into being in 1997 as the ‘new economy’. Creators during that time were people who worked with animation and illustrations, although, with no discernible marketplace infrastructure to generate revenue. It was YouTube that coined the term ‘creator’ in 2011 that, at the time, applied to individuals who were famous on the platform. The term has rapidly gained popular acceptance and now applies to individuals who create online content. Hence, the creator economy is defined as an economic system built by independent content creators who are connected to their audience and businesses via the internet. The content created can be in the form of text, podcasts, music, videos, digital books, games, etc. This content can be monetized by sharing it on ad-sponsored platforms, partnering with brands, charging subscription fees, providing services, and much more. Some examples of content creators are TikTok stars Charlie D’Amelio, PewDiePie, and Addison Rae.
YouTube: The Birthplace of the Creator Economy
The Working
The umbrella of the creator economy covers an entire ecosystem encapsulating creators, consumers, advertisers, and other stakeholders that significantly affect the way content is created, distributed, consumed, and monetized. The stakeholders within this realm are –
1. Creators also known as infopreneurs who engage in creating various types of content on a variety of topics to build and engage their audiences and monetize their creations. These creators can be Vloggers or Bloggers who give information and advice on specialized topics, Entertainers using their skills of writing, creating music or expressing through other art forms, Guides and Experts sharing their knowledge on products or services and Celebrities who use their popularity to create content.
2. Consumers are the target audience of the creators who engage with them or follow their opinions for entertainment or information. Consumers also support creators monetarily through content subscription.
3. Platforms are used equally by the creators and consumers to engage with each other. These are third party facilitators that help creation, distribution, consumption and monetization of content. YouTube and Instagram are examples of such platforms.
4. Businesses advertise their wares and services through content creators. Partnering with influencers allows these businesses a direct access to their target audience. It also helps to make marketing campaigns effective. Influencers earn highly from brands through this partnership.
5. Tools are solutions that help the stakeholders to create and distribute content and also provide valuable performance insights to creators and businesses.
Business Models of Creator Economy
As new and emerging as this economy is, it has introduced innovative business models that has allowed successful career sustainability for creators. Off the many business models that have sprung around this economy, some commonly successful ones are –
1. Platform Revenue Sharing
As the most popular business model with the least barrier entry, it is used by creators who enjoy a significantly large following and want to diversify their earning sources. Creators monetize their content by earning a portion of the advertisement revenue that is generated from their channel pages and posts.
As the name suggests this commission earning based model helps both the creators to generate revenue and the businesses to generate credible leads. Through this business model, creators share coupon codes or special links that they receive. These are then tracked by the platform to ascertain if such leads have converted into actual sales.
3. Product Placement
This type of business model works on brand partnerships where creators and influencers are paid to use or feature brands and products in their content. Creators are remunerated for mentioning the products and services and providing website links in their content. Product Placement model is preferred by influencers who enjoy a large following as their fees per mention depends on their audience reach and penetration.
This model works on exclusive contracts between a business and the influencer. The influencer agrees to exclusively promote the business or brand by featuring it in their content.
5. Subscription
There are several platforms like Instagram that offer a subscription based business model. This entails viewers paying a subscription fee to watch exclusive content, live streams and videos which are otherwise not accessible. This type of business model presents a great opportunity for creators to grow their direct fan-to-creator revenue.
6. Self-Brand Offering
There are creators who also launch their own products and services including accessories, clothing lines, bags, purses, etc that helps them in generating revenue and establish their own separate business that is sustainable.
India & The Creator Economy
Between the years 2018 and 2022, startups within the creator economy in India have raised USD 2.5 billion and as per reports, it is growing at a CAGR of 25%. The main reasons behind its growth trajectory are flexible office hours, remote work and renewal of passion pursuits.
According to Tamseel Hussain of Livemint – “Doctors are joining the creator economy and creating shows on various health issues, farmers teaching other farmers organic farming through story telling or even brands enabling their own community members to share powerful stories instead of going to influencers.”
The driving indicators of the Indian creator economy’s growth potential are the fundamental changes in consumer behaviour, consumption patterns and the increasing number of first-time creators showcasing their talent.
Reiterating this Tamseel Hussain said – “The rise of affordable smartphones and internet-access packages, coupled with digital media, has made being a creator easier. The capacity of hungry audiences demanding a variety of content is also a massive driver. Today stories are everywhere, from social media platforms to televisions, OTT, offline screens and even food and shopping apps. This is changing the landscape for the creator economy, especially in smaller Indian towns and cities, by building new opportunities for creators and offering unique stories to people where they spend the most time.”
The already growing creator economy was, then, disrupted by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The severe lockdowns pushed imaginative boundaries as creators flocked the digital space showcasing a wide variety of talent and monetizing their content.
What is also fuelling its growth is the increasing penetration of digitization of the rural areas of the country. It is widening prospects that is ably supported by cutting-edge technology. The rapid expansion of the Tier II and Tier III cities of the country means that more than 100 million new creators are expected to join the creator community further adding to the growth of the creator economy.
Conclusion
The rapidly growing creator economy is also facing obstacles and challenges. However, the constant technology evolution is quickly answering those challenges making the future look very promising. The creator economy of India is set to scale with people able to generate revenue doing what they love and connecting with their roots. It will be interesting to watch how the evolution shapes in the coming years.
FAQs
What is the Creator Economy and how is it transforming the way people earn a living?
A software-facilitated economy created on social media platforms that allows creators and influencers to earn revenue, transforming the way people earn by providing opportunities for self-employment and income from a direct audience.
Who are the key players in the Creator Economy and how do they generate revenue?
The key players in the Creator Economy are creators and influencers who generate revenue through sponsored content, merchandise sales, and direct audience support such as tips, subscriptions, or paid memberships.
What are some popular platforms that are driving the Creator Economy, and what kind of content is most successful?
Popular platforms driving the Creator Economy include YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Patreon. Successful content includes video content, tutorials, lifestyle, and entertainment.
Today, writers can reach millions of people around the world by writing blogs. They can earn money by leveraging the Google and Facebook ad models. This might seem a safe option to make money but, it also restricts the creativity of the writers.
Writers are not able to create a direct connection with their readers because they have to constantly think about the on-page and off-page SEO.
Writers know that if they don’t rank their article on the first page of Google they won’t get the traffic due to which they will not earn money. This was a big problem for writers. To put an end to this, Substack was launched in 2017.
Within a few years, it has empowered the relationship between a reader and a writer. It has gained immense popularity and people are loving this platform. Substack has over 5,00,000 paying subscribers.
Let’s understand the business model of Substack and how it makes money.
Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie. The headquarters of the company is in San Francisco, California, USA.
It is an online platform that helps writers launch their email newsletter. Writers can earn money by collecting a subscription fee from email newsletter subscribers.
The platform provides all the tools to the writers which allow them to write high-quality content. The best part about Substack is that writers can publish unlimited content for free.
Business Model of Substack
The business model of Substack is simple. It provides all the tools to the writers to write content and earn money through subscriptions.
You can manage your email list, add subscribers, send emails and analyse the analytics. Readers can subscribe to your email list monthly or annually.
Apart from making things simpler, Substack has made the bond between readers and writers stronger in the following ways:
Freedom to Write Content
Page view metrics and advertisers have taken away the freedom to write authentically from the writers.
Most writers feel that their creativity is lost due to these algorithms and metrics. Substack helps the writers to write content on their terms and build a genuine audience.
Writers can keep all their subscription lists and content with them. Substack provides all the editorial and publishing tools so that writers can make engaging content. Most importantly, the platform has provided financial freedom to the writers.
Substack V/S Website
Now, the main question lies in why should someone use Substack instead of simply creating their own website?
See, if you opt for a website you need to think about the domain, hosting, website design, payment integration, funnel management and a lot more. You have to hire a professional website developer to do all of these things.
You have to figure out and make all these arrangements by yourself. Now, tech-savvy people won’t find it tough to do all these. This will also take a lot of time and you also need to invest money. But People who just want to write engaging articles without being involved in all these technical customs use Substack.
Building Trust
Trust is a very significant aspect of any business. Substack helps to build trust between the readers and writers. Due to the newsletter subscription model, writers engage in a one-to-one conversation with their readers as the article is directly sent to the email inbox.
Since there is no algorithm pressure on the writers, the main focus stays on creating quality content for readers. Writers can understand what a reader finds interesting and write content accordingly.
Substack producer, Valerio Bassan quoted, “As a publishing tool, newsletters provide a solid answer to the number one question in media today: how can we rebuild trust between us and our readers?”
Using Substack writers can build their own brands. Emily Atkin who previously worked at The New Republic and ThinkProgress moved to Substack. She is now the author of the climate-focused Substack newsletter. Emily now earns more money as compared to her previous salaried journalism job. She is an excellent example of how Substack is changing the lives of many writers.
Substack makes money by charging a 10% commission to every paid subscriber. So, until you make money using Substack, the platform also does not make any money. The minimum subscription fee is $5 per month to $75 per month.
To make more money the main focus of Substack is to get more writers to produce content on their platform and make those writers earn money.
The subscription model incentivizes the writers to make engaging content and give more value to their readers. Contrast this to an ad model where the incentive for writers was to gain as much attention as possible.
Future of Substack
In the future, Substack may add discovery tools like a recommendation engine which would help readers find interesting content according to their preferences. This will boost the relationship between writers and readers.
Podcasting is another great opportunity. Substack already allows its writers to distribute free podcasts. These podcasts are monetized through ads. Rather than following the ad model, Substack can add a paid subscription option for podcasts. This will help both the company and writers to earn more money.
FAQs
How does Substack work?
Substack helps writers publish their content, build an audience and make money by collecting a subscription fee from email newsletter subscriptions.
How does a Substack subscription work?
A Substack subscription starts from $5 a month and can go upto $75 a month. The price goes up as you increase the number of subscribers.
How does Substack make money?
Substack makes money by charging a 10% commission to every paid subscriber.
Is Substack profitable?
Yes, Substack is profitable as writers can build their brand on the platform and earn money by collecting a subscription fee from email newsletter subscriptions. Writers can leave the platform at the time they want and keep all the subscription lists with them.
Does Substack own your content?
No, all the content you publish on Substack is owned by you.
When we can’t find an answer to a topic even on Wikipedia, the last resort we have is ‘Quora‘ to look for answers. This website offers many people’s perspectives on a wide range of topics, including subject-related, money-making, music, literature, movies, computer science, lifestyle and technology. Quora is the place to go when we want to hear actual answers or real experiences from individuals since people share their real thoughts publicly, which can benefit someone who is seeking an answer to that question. Initially, Quora was intended to be a question-and-answer site, with Q&A software responding to users’ queries.
The site was developed in 2009 by two former Facebook employees Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever. It became accessible to the public in 2010, with a user-friendly interface. Every year new features are added to the website, such as: Answering to the Question (similar to Reddit), Introduction of a blogging platform as non-answer content, Advertisement rollouts, Daily digest mode, Multilingual expansion, Top writer programmers and so on. However, Do you know that many people earn money through Quora? If your answer is no, read this article to learn how it’s done.
4 Effective Ways to Earn Money on Quora
Graph showing Monthly Active users on Quora
Quora can also be used to earn money online. Let’s discuss the most common yet effective ways to earn through this media.
Affiliate Marketing is one of the key ways that Quora makes money. Affiliate marketing, in general, is a type of marketing in which a company pays a third party to generate traffic, leads or sales for its products and services. Have you ever noticed ‘Accept Cookies’ when visiting a website for the first time? That’s one aspect of Affiliate marketing that adds several users who have visited their page.
The first step of earning money through affiliate marketing is to create content that will attract the attention of your target audience.
After deciding what content you’re going to create, look for the answers that the target audience is looking for, then answer that.
While writing the article, insert the affiliate links into them.
Your visitor then clicks on the link and purchases the item. The affiliate network gets the record of the purchase and then you get the commission.
Quora is a website where you may use maximum affiliate links to drive traffic to your content. For example, having a high number of audiences in your niche combined with a strong link to your content/company’s product would generate a large number of leads as well as money to your bank account.
As I previously stated, Quora was made to answer questions posed by users, similarly to providing a database to the public for a price. Something we may or may not be aware of is that Quora makes millions of dollars by making its database available to its users. Besides, users can also earn money by answering certain questions on Quora, where the software selects the best answers from a pool of thousands and awards knowledge rewards ranging from $200 to $1000. In Quora people are looking for proper answers and what is better than providing those answers with correct data. After collecting the data and then analysing it, you can share it in the article and the target audience can check those out.
You can earn money by participating in the Quora Partner Program and asking useful questions on the platform. To earn money with questions, you must first be invited to join the platform’s partner program. The criterion is:
You must have over 100000 views, then only you can get an invite and join the program.
Ask questions regularly, it is a good way to get the attention of the program. After a few weeks, you’ll be offered to join the partner program if you thoughtfully answer questions every day.
Your answer must be appropriate so that it seems you care about being in Quora.
Create your profile properly with pictures and descriptions.
The partners have to ask 10 questions a day. However, the amount of money that you will get will not depend on the number of questions.
If the question is popular, it gets ads impression which in return generates money.
Subscription
Quora+ Subscription Screen
Readers can access your space’s paid content by subscribing to it. You can publish premium content in your space that is exclusively viewable to Quora+ members and your space subscribers (your own subscribers). There are two types of material you can create for your space: Free and Paid. Subscribers and Quora+ users can view your content if it’s listed under Paid content. Subscriptions start at $0.99 per month. You can establish your own price as a Space owner. Subscribers have the opportunity to follow your space. 60% of the subscription will be yours. If your subscription is $10 and you have 100 followers, your revenue will be $1000, and you will receive $600. You can offer your followers a monthly or a yearly subscription. You are the one who decides, which posts should be exclusive for the subscribers and set an amount for that. Those who are your subscribers have the access to all your posts in the space.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, Quora is one of the ways to get money. But, before you jump in, make sure you thoroughly understand it and how it works, as not everyone has been successful to earn money from there. It won’t be easy, but if you form a plan and stick to it, you’ll be able to create a new source of passive income for yourself. Affiliate marketing, partner programs, and subscriptions are some of the ways through which you can earn money.
FAQs:
What is Quora?
Quora is a question-and-answer website based in the United States. Quora is an intriguing site that feels like a mix of a search engine and a social network, but its goal is to provide you with answers as well as allow you to answer questions for others in areas where you have expertise.
Who is the founder of Quora?
Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever created Quora in June 2009. The company’s headquarters are in Mountain View, California.
Is there a fee for asking questions on Quora?
Quora does not pay for questions, contrary to popular perception. They just split any revenue generated by ad impressions on the answer pages as a result of the queries asked.
Is Quora a safe site?
Quora is just like any other social media platform on the internet in terms of security. The Quora website is extremely secure against cyber-attacks. Moderators constantly monitor the website’s content for sensitive or abusive stuff that needs to be removed.
