According to Wendy Clark, CEO, DDB North America, platforms will change and shift. We have to invest in great storytelling. In India, we have 17.5 crore TV households. It is growing exponentially. Still, digital has picked up speed recently. First, the music channels started the digital platforms. Some consumers are high value-low volume. They are hitched to OTT players. They offer long format content translated to digital directly from a TV show. Other consumers are loyal to artists, and flock to artist pages on the release day of video. The format is short to medium, and the content is mostly consumed on mobile phones. It is snackable content.

So far digital platforms replicated TV content, but are seriously thinking in terms of original content. They have become disruptors — they are video-on-demand and over-the -top services.

The storytellers are creating web series. The digital storytelling has certain advantages. The platform lets them explore their creativity. As the digital penetrates deeply, the viewer will no longer be an appointment viewer. There are four demographic quadrants –male, female, over and under 25. It is easier to sell a four quadrant concept on digital.

OTT stories have different grammar, characters and visuals. They are edgier and have more humour. The characters are more realistic.

Creating content for digital is easier and less expensive than to do so for films and TV shows. Just a simple camera, basic edit software and good ideas and talent. This is all you need. There are no middlemen.

There is scope of experimentation in terms of form, format, stories, genres and talent. The experimentation could be both on and behind the screen.

Producers get a margin from the platform as the metric of success on digital are views and subscribers. Another way to monetize is through sponsorships.

The most important question is that of the viewability of the digital ads which requires measurement and metrics. Such measurement should be transparent and could be independent third-party verification. Many advertisers are not satisfied with the ad metrics being used in the digital space.

Media measurement has been a part of advertising for a long time. In the 1930s, we witnessed the emergence of the Audit Bureau of Circulation ( ABC ). Later came the readership surveys called NRS in the late 1970, followed by IRS under the aegis of a joint industry body MRUC — Media Research Users Council. These efforts have been collaborative efforts of the print media itself.

TV has been measured right from the beginning by an independent, third-party commercial entity. TV audience measurement is now in this decade done by a joint industry body BARC.

MRUC and BARC are looking at measuring the digital media ads. As soon as this happens, all media will be measured agnostically.

In the USA, the Media Rating Council (  MRC ) operates. It provides essential inputs — setting standards, providing oversight, conducting audits and correcting infirmities As in India now the measurement rests in the hands of joint industry bodies, these inputs are integral to their work. Maybe, it is time to bring the various bodies together.

Abroad, Google and Facebook have agreed to Media Rating Council’s audits. Advertisers are pushing for greater transparency. There were inaccuracies in the measuring tools of the social media. Another cross-platform measurement is provided by Interactive Advertising Bureau ( IAB ).

Advertisers are right in asking the RoI while putting digital ads. These days the effectiveness of the campaigns are decided by how viral they go on line.

Abroad, there are viewability targets for a campaign. The other standard could be the time spent on site. This can happen here if there is third party technology, but it comes at a cost. Publishers must be willing to allow for it, but they are reluctant because the CPM ( cost per thousand ) returns are the lowest for publishers. Thus there is little incentive for them to invest in the technology.

Display buys are performance-based, i.e. CPC, CPI etc. In video format, measurement systems are not as advanced. As mobile video advertising has grown, there is a demand for viewability-related metrics. As mobile videos are immersive they are better in arresting attention and are effective in ensuring better viewability.

Viewability is an online advertising metric. It keeps track of those impressions that are actually viewed by customers.

A viewable impression should be defined. A served ad impression becomes a viewable impression if its content is available in viewable space of the browser window, on an in-focus browser tab, fulfilling the basic criteria for an ad to be considered viewable.

Every leading broadcaster has a separate OTT platform which airs the traditional TV shows and at the same time some original content. There are independent OTT platforms too, not tied up to a broadcaster. Advertisers are flocking to these platforms. Advertising spend on these platforms is constantly going up. Similarly, print has entered into video content and keeps on updating it. It increases the reach of the print media.

So far broadcasters, publishers and digital platforms put out their own online viewership numbers but these lack credibility.It is thus self-measurement.

ABC has started doing the digital ratings of publications. It requires big data and currently both ABC and BARC are examining the sources of big data. BARC plans to measure online video. Ultimately, it is expected that a common metric would emerge.

To compete with other social media such as YouTube and Twitter, Facebook introduces a new tool called Facebook Live to bring more brands and celebrities on board. It is a video streaming service on facebook. It raises the bar on engagement with consumers and fans. In Mumbai Office of Facebook, it has launched Facebook Bandstand where artists performers and media professionals can host live shows or interact with their followers. It provides a video link. The participants can promote without having to pay for the space. Similar facilities have been set up at Los Angeles and New York. Periscope of Twitter enables real-time access and greater interactivity between fans and celebritiesn

Initially, the tool will help provide tech support and interesting backgrounds. Later, Facebook intends to use recorded and live video to deepen the engagement.

Currently, Facebook has no plan to monetize the property. There are experiments to allow ad breaks during a live video. These features could be considered later.

In digital world, just the creation and distribution are not the only aspects of content marketing. There are factors such as authenticity, relevance and value. Brand markets itself, but consumers find more value in user opinions.

Fans can share these videos, talk about them and generate sizeable amount of media mentions.

User-generated content is a boon to marketers. It is genuine. There is engagement with real people and there are non-staged scenes.