Khooni Monday host Divay Agarwal on why creator-led events are harder than they look

Agarwal talks about bridging the gap between a free click and a paid ticket

by Shalinee Mishra
Published: Oct 31, 2026 11:59 AM | 4 min read

Khooni Monday host Divay Agarwal on why creator-led events are harder than they look

Divay Agarwal, founder of media company TMV and creator of the horror channel Khooni Monday, has expanded his brand into offline events, gaming, and production, with the annual HorrorCon India contributing significantly to revenue.
Despite a large digital following of over 10 million, Agarwal emphasizes that online reach does not guarantee ticket sales, prompting a shift from a fan-centric approach to a broader pop-culture festival model for HorrorCon.
The event has seen substantial growth in attendance, from 5,000 in its inaugural year to a projected 30,000 this weekend, with ticket prices ranging from Rs 599 to over Rs 10,000 for VIP packages.
TMV has successfully attracted brand sponsorships by rebranding horror as a cultural moment for Gen Z, engaging brands like Spotify and Flipkart, while maintaining a clear distinction between digital content and offline event strategies.

Getting 10 million people to watch a spooky animated story on their phones at 2 AM is one thing. Getting them to get off their couches, pay Rs 599, and brave Delhi traffic for a weekend event is a completely different beast.

As India’s creator economy hits saturation, everybody wants to build an offline business that survives the next brutal social media algorithm shift. For Divay Agarwal, the voice behind the popular digital horror channel Khooni Monday and founder of media company TMV (The Mad Virus) that meant turning internet scares into real-world intellectual property (IP).

What began as an animated horror storytelling channel now operates across four verticals: original content, live events, gaming IP, and a creative production shop called Dumrooh. While TMV’s digital content engine still brings in 60% of the company’s revenue, its annual Halloween festival, HorrorCon India, now accounts for a solid 20%, with gaming and production splitting the rest.

"A creator builds an audience. An IP ecosystem builds assets that can create value long after the original content has been consumed," Agarwal said.

The Follower Fallacy: Why Views Don’t Equal Footfalls

With over 6.5 million subscribers on YouTube, a 10-million-plus cross-platform community, and The Horror Show by Khooni Monday ranking as Spotify India’s second-most-streamed podcast in 2025, one would assume selling event tickets is a breeze. Agarwal is refreshingly blunt that it isn’t.

"One of the biggest learnings from building HorrorCon is that digital reach and commercial intent are two very different metrics," Agarwal said. "A subscriber base as large as 10M+ gives you a head start in awareness, but it doesn't automatically translate into paid ticket sales."

To bridge the gap between a free click and a paid ticket, HorrorCon had to stop pitching itself purely as a Khooni Monday fan meetup and start operating like a mainstream pop-culture carnival.

As the third edition kicks off today (October 31 and November 1) at NSIC Grounds in Okhla, New Delhi, the programming is intentionally designed to pull in people who have never heard a single Khooni Monday episode. Alongside horror zones and cosplay, the lineup relies on hip-hop headliners like Seedhe Maut, gaming arenas, and a family-friendly zone called 'HallowVille' to tap into Delhi-NCR’s estimated 40 lakh Gen Z and millennial event-goers.

The pivot from fan-club to festival shows in the numbers: footfalls grew from 5,000 in its 2024 debut to nearly 20,000 in 2025, with over 30,000 attendees projected this weekend. On ticketing platform SkillBox, entry-level passes sit at Rs 599–Rs 799, Super Fan merch bundles go up to Rs 2,498, and group VIP packages stretch past Rs 10,000.

"The creator may bring the first audience through the gate. But the experience has to be powerful enough to bring them back, and compelling enough to attract people who have never heard of the creator," Agarwal added.

Making 'Spooky' Safe for Brands

If convincing viewers to buy tickets is tough, convincing mainstream Indian brand managers to sponsor a horror event is an Olympic sport. Historically, marketers treat the horror genre like a haunted house—best avoided due to strict "brand-safety" guidelines.

Instead of selling awkward logo slaps on blood-splattered banners, TMV started pitching Halloween as a quirky Gen Z cultural moment. The hook worked. Over three editions, brands across quick commerce, tech, FMCG, and beauty—including Spotify, HELL Energy, Instax, Digitek, and Plum—have signed on.

This year, Flipkart Minutes has set up a dedicated trick-or-treat arena on the ground, while Decathlon is running interactive gaming zones for kids and adults. In an earlier edition, tech brand Digitek even leaned into the pun, setting up an on-ground podcast booth called 'Bhootcast'.

"Traditional sponsorships often measure success through impressions, logo visibility and reach. We look at how brands can create meaningful engagement, drive participation, encourage organic content creation and become part of the audience's festival memories," Agarwal said.

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Even as offline events and cinema pop-ups scale, the digital core still has a clear division of labour. For Agarwal, YouTube is the commercial heavy lifter, its visual format and mature ad-tech make it the easiest place to close high-ROI brand integrations. Audio, meanwhile, is the sticky, low-cost retention engine that opens doors for licensing and original platform deals.

"YouTube provides a more established ecosystem for advertising, sponsorships and brand-led monetisation, while audio opens opportunities through licensing, distribution partnerships, original programming and potentially more efficient content production and localisation," he noted.