Legacy meets novelty: Miss Universe in a Digiverse

Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu and future pageant winners could be looking at careers vastly dissimilar to their predecessors as the entertainment industry goes digital.

By RISHI KANT, Dec 30, 2021

Miss Universe Harnaaz Kaur now has a 3.1-million fanbase on Instagram, and her crowning moment got 7.8-million views on YouTube.

Long gone are the days when beauty pageant holders were all about being the most desirable face featuring on billboards, commercials and the big screen. 2021 has been a watershed year, marking a shift from the physical to the digital.

The 21-year-old Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu bringing home the Miss Universe crown comes at an epochal moment. Not only is she the first beauty pageant holder post the Covid-19 pandemic, she is also the first among her peers to be propelled into worldwide fame in a burgeoning digital economy in 2021, succinctly put by “metaverse”, where life as we knew it is moving on the internet. The moment word got out of Harnaaz bringing home the crown, Indians went berserk on the internet, with a deluge of congratulatory messages on social media, and the slices of Harnaaz welled up in tears moments after she was declared the winner, trended on social media. She now has a 3.1-million fanbase on Instagram, and her crowning moment garnering 7.8-million views on YouTube.

https://www.fortuneindia.com/enterprise/legacy-meets-novelty-miss-universe-in-a-digiverse/106558