National, 15th May, 2026: Social Gaming community platform STAN, a Series A-funded company backed by Google’s AI Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, General Catalyst, Nazara Technologies, and several global gaming investors, has released new internal insights revealing that users from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are emerging as some of the platform’s strongest monetisation and retention cohorts, signaling a broader shift in India’s digital consumer economy.
Based on STAN’s aggregated platform-wide analysis of millions of user interactions and monetized engagement events recorded throughout 2026, users from Bharat made up around 67% of the platform’s total user base and contributed close to 72% of total monetised engagement on the platform.
The analysis further showed that the users from Bharat generated around 17–18% higher ARPU compared to Tier-1 metro cities in 2026. Unlike metro spending patterns that are often driven by occasional high-value purchases, Bharat users displayed more sustained monetisation behaviour by supporting creators during live gamerooms, purchasing in-app upgrades, joining exclusive clubs, and participating consistently within creator-led gaming communities.
According to the platform, users from cities like Patna, Indore, Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati, Lucknow, and Jamshedpur showed more consistent spending habits than users from metros including Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru.
The company also revealed that more than 300,000 creators are now earning a sustainable monthly income on STAN. According to internal platform trends, several top creators from Tier-2 cities are earning more within their first year on the platform than many corporate freshers typically make over five years.
The platform also observed materially higher long-term retention among Bharat cohorts. The user numbers across the Bharat and metro users also showed a similar bump with Bharat users outpacing the metro users by 10%.
“What stood out to us was not just scale, but the consistency of monetisation and engagement behaviour across Bharat markets,” said Parth Chadha, Co-Founder and CEO, STAN. “For years, India’s internet economy has largely viewed Bharat as a user acquisition market and metros as the primary revenue centres. Our data increasingly suggests that this assumption is evolving.”
STAN attributes the shift to rising digital payment adoption across non-metro India, growing creator-led engagement, and the emergence of platforms designed specifically for Bharat-first internet audiences rather than adapted from metro-first products.
“Users today are willing to spend consistently on platforms where they feel recognised, included, and part of a trusted community,” the spokesperson added. “The opportunity in Bharat is no longer just about internet penetration or scale. It is increasingly becoming one of the strongest monetisation opportunities across India’s consumer internet ecosystem.”
The findings come at a time when consumer internet companies and investors are increasingly looking beyond metro markets to understand the next phase of India’s digital growth story. The platform plans to continue investing in creator tools, regional community experiences, and engagement-led features as it expands its footprint across India’s rapidly growing gaming ecosystem.
About STAN
STAN is a leading social gaming and creator community platform backed by investors including Google AI Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, and Nazara Technologies. The platform has built a rapidly growing ecosystem of over 45 million users and more than 1 million creators across India. STAN combines gaming, live communities, and creator-led engagement while increasingly integrating AI-driven tools and experiences to improve creator growth, community interactions, and personalized user engagement on the platform.
