How Will Short Videos On Dineout Impact Restaurant Visibility?

MediaNama’s Take:

The introduction of Bites inside Dineout shows that Swiggy is no longer treating restaurant discovery as a static listing issue. A vertical short-video surface inside a dining reservation product now directs which restaurants users notice, how visibility shifts, and what costs restaurants may end up bearing to stay competitive. Importantly, short-video formats command far more attention than static listings, giving the platform greater control over what gets amplified and what gets ignored.

Moreover, when platform-produced clips, curated videos, and restaurant uploads appear on the same surface, the absence of clear labels can blur the lines between editorial, promotional, and organic content. This becomes especially relevant because Swiggy has been experimenting with new monetisation paths across product lines and has recently signalled a shift toward stronger control through Instamart’s planned inventory-led model.

Bites could therefore become a prominent influence surface inside Dineout. However, without clearly defined rules for uploads, moderation, ranking, and disclosures, the feature raises questions about fairness, transparency, and the evolving balance of power between independent restaurants and larger chains that can invest in professionally-produced videos. And these governance issues will matter even more as video-led restaurant discovery features scale their operations.

What’s the news

Swiggy has begun rolling out Bites, a vertical short-video feed inside its Dineout app that lets users scroll through restaurant clips in a reels-style format. The feature is currently visible in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Notably, Inc42 first reported the development, with MediaNama subsequently confirming the presence of Bites on the Dineout app.

The videos appearing on the feed are mixed. Some carry a “Servd by Swiggy” label, while others do not: indicating that both platform-curated and restaurant-uploaded content currently appears on the same platform. However, Swiggy has not issued any details explaining how these videos are sourced, moderated, ranked, or disclosed.

Notably, this is the first time a major Indian food delivery company has integrated a video discovery format inside a restaurant booking product. The introduction of Bites therefore creates a new promotional layer within Dineout, potentially affecting how restaurants compete for visibility.

What Bites looks like today

Inside the Dineout interface, the Bites tab opens to a full-screen vertical viewer similar to short-video feeds on social platforms. Users swipe vertically to move between clips. Some videos include a “Servd by Swiggy” tag at the top, while others appear without any label.

According to the LinkedIn page for Servd, it operates as a Swiggy-run digital publication and creative agency, which apparently indicates that at least some of the tagged videos are produced by Swiggy’s own content arm.

Below each video, the interface displays the restaurant’s name, cuisine category, rating, price range for two, location, and active offers. A Book Now button appears directly beneath the metadata, allowing users to move from viewing a clip to making a table reservation in one tap. Additionally, users can like and share videos.

What the display for Bites short-duration restaurant reels looks like (Image source: MediaNama)

This is therefore not a static listing page. Instead, Bites functions as an interactive discovery surface within a booking app, with engagement patterns drawn from social media.

What Swiggy has not clarified

• Who can upload videos
  Swiggy has not specified who can upload content to Bites. It has not stated whether only restaurants can participate or whether creators, agencies, and influencers can also upload videos. It also has not outlined any verification, approval, or format requirements.
• Disclosure requirements
  Swiggy has not explained what the “Servd by Swiggy” label means inside Bites. It has not said whether the tag marks platform-produced content, curated picks, paid promotions, or a separate editorial stream. It also has not defined how these clips differ from restaurant-uploaded videos, whether they follow separate standards, or how users should identify those distinctions.
• Whether uploads are paid
  Swiggy has also not stated whether restaurants must pay to upload promotional videos. Additionally, it has not clarified whether Bites sits inside existing Dineout commercial agreements or whether it plans to introduce boosting, paid placements, or sponsored videos.
• Moderation and reporting
  Swiggy does not provide any option for users or restaurants to flag misleading, outdated, or harmful videos. It also does not describe any moderation workflow, review process, or escalation mechanism for Bites content.
• Ranking and recommendation logic
  Swiggy has not disclosed how it orders videos on the feed. It has not revealed whether engagement influences visibility, how location or cuisine affects ranking, or whether it can push certain clips for strategic visibility.
• Commercial terms
  Swiggy has not explained how Bites visibility interacts with Dineout’s listings, offers, or table-booking ecosystem. It also has not stated whether any restrictions apply to promotional content.
• Data usage
  The food tech platform has also not revealed whether engagement on Bites feeds into personalisation across its products, or whether restaurants will receive analytics beyond basic view counts.

How Discovery and Visibility Have Played Out On Competing Platforms

For context, restaurant discovery features on food platforms have repeatedly raised concerns about fairness, transparency, and visibility. Zomato’s past policies illustrate just how influential discovery layers can become when platforms define the rules.

Notably back in 2017, Zomato introduced a “report abuse” feature after restaurants flagged blackmail and bribery attempts linked to reviews. The company said some users demanded perks in exchange for positive ratings, while some restaurants offered freebies to boost reviews.

Zomato allowed partners to flag suspicious reviews through the ‘Zomato for Business’ app so the platform could identify and freeze bad actors over time. The company also said it would introduce mechanisms for users to report restaurants offering incentives for positive reviews.

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Additionally, Zomato tightened review management after incidents like the Kolkata Mocambo controversy and the Lemp Brewpub episode, where sudden spikes in negative reviews triggered moderation and led Zomato to require new reviewers to publish at least 10 approved reviews before their posts became public.

More recently, restaurant owners raised concerns about Zomato’s opaque advertising model. To explain, they told MediaNama that visibility often depends on how much they spend on ads, with charges applied on a per-click basis even when views do not convert to orders. Owners also revealed that ads become difficult to pause, refunds are not guaranteed, and discounts are frequently deducted from the restaurant’s share.

A former Zomato manager even confirmed that restaurants running ads automatically rise in rankings while others fall behind, and noted that discovery algorithms shift every few months.

These examples show that discovery, ranking, and advertising already sit at the centre of competition and platform-merchant relations across the sector. And Swiggy’s introduction of Bites in this landscape means that video-led discovery can become another influential surface.

How Swiggy’s Platform Strategy Is Shifting

Swiggy’s Q2FY26 earnings call places the launch of Bites in a wider platform strategy. For context, the company’s Out-of-Home Consumption segment, which includes Dineout and SteppinOut, recorded a 58% year-on-year (YoY) increase in adjusted revenue and moved into profit with Rs 6 crore in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation). Additionally, monthly active restaurant partners rose to 44,000, indicating that competition for visibility on Dineout is intensifying.

The earnings call also highlighted Swiggy’s increased reliance on new discovery and engagement surfaces across its portfolio. The company said it is experimenting with multiple new products and user pathways, including separate apps like Toing and new formats under its Platform Innovations division. This experimentation directly aligns with the food tech platform introducing the short-form video discovery surface within Dineout.

Furthermore, Swiggy indicated that Instamart is expected to transition to an inventory-led model, describing it as an “eventuality”. While this shift is not directly related to Dineout’s restaurant videos, it signals a broader move towards acquiring more control on monetisation pathways. Therefore, the absence of governance rules for Bites becomes more significant, as the video feed could become another layer where Swiggy shapes what users see.

Elsewhere, Swiggy faces heightened pressure in the food delivery sector due to reduced minimum order values and lower subscription fees. And the rollout of Bites at this point raises further questions about whether video-led discovery can evolve into a new promotional or monetisation feature, especially inside a segment that is already profitable and strategically important.

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Note: MediaNama has reached out to Swiggy with questions on this development. The article will be updated when we receive a response.