The first phase of radio broadcasting was launched in 1999. They launched 21 private FM radio channels. In July 2005, phase II auction were held. In this phase, 221 radio channels became operational. The previous 21 channels of phase I had to migrate to phase II, taking the private operational radio channels to 242 ( 21 + 221 ). At present, 242 FM radio channels are operational in 85 cities. In phase III, 135 channels of FM radio will be made available to the 69 cities of phase II. FM phase III ( 2015 ) extends to about 227 new cities, whose population is 1 lac or above touching a total of 839 new FM channels in 294 cities. The coverage area of FM would expand to 75 per cent of the country from 40 percent as of today. With the launch of phase III, radio is expected to provide advertisers a much deeper reach. Once phase III is completed all 839 licenses active in about two years, radio will command 9 percent of ad pie, up from the present 4.4 per cent. As of today, the industry size is Rs. 1800 crore, and it is growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent. Phase III will make the industry more conducive to mergers / acquisitions due to increase in the license period from 10 to 15 years.
Author: Shabbir Chunawalla
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Digital Advertising Industry
According to the FICCI KPMG 2015 report, the digital advertising industry in India grew from Rs. 3010 crore in 2013 to Rs. 4350 crore in 2014 and recorded a growth of around 45 per cent. In 2015, the report predicts that the size of digital advertising industry will be approximately Rs. 6250 crore.
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Digital Assistants
Siri is the Apple’s digital assistant. Cortana is Microsoft’s digital assistant. M is being tested by Facebook as digital assistant. Basically these are Artificial Intellegence (AI) platforms. The technology companies collect valuable data about the users when they use the digital assistants. This information serves as input for digital advertising, and keep a user tied up to their system.
Some tech companies give a personality to their digital assistants, e.g. Siri and Cortana. Some build their assistants with no personality, gender or voice, e.g. M and Google’s assistant.
Digital assistants can order flowers or make restaurant. As such, these can be used to guide users to particular products and advertisers.
There is always a possibility — what charms one may become annoying for another.
The Google app makes use of predictive technology known as Google Now. It responds to questions in a female voice.
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Encrypted Messaging Apps
There are encryption apps such as Signal, Wickr and Telegram. These encode cell phone messages. Technology companies such as Apple made encryption technology a standard not so, part of its iMessage service. The keys to decode the messages are not held by Apple but by users at each end of the conversation. If this is not so, customers’ confidence is undermined. Even this end-to-end encrypted technology leaves a trail metadata behind. This can be used to parse who is communicating with whom, when such communication is taking place and where it is taking place. The content is hidden by encryption but not the presence of the communicators. To read the communications, they can hack into a target’s device, what they call at the end point. Encryption is not helpful if the end point that holds the keys is compromised. Encryption has initiated a new debate about security versus privacy.
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Ping Digital Network
Young audience is moving away from TV and consumes video on multiple devices providing an opportunity to create digital TV network. Apart from user-generated content, Google too was looking for premium content around 2012.Ping Digital Network launched its first YouTube channel on food called Indian Food Network. It has an inventory of 1000+ videos with 40 home chefs. Across all channels Ping has created 7000 videos. It has launched Music, Life Style and News Channel — Boom Live. Apart from YouTube, Ping puts its content on DailyMotion, another video platform. About 50 per cent traffic comes from mobile devices. It creates content in the utility, information and knowledge category. Advertisers too would like to be associated with such content. Right now, a TV commercial is edited to make a digital ad. Ping monetises its videos with the help of advertisements.
There are pre-roll ads, with strip ads appearing at the bottom of the video, while the video is playing. This accounts for 40 per cent of its revenue. Another 40 per cent comes from product placements in the video itself. The remaining 20 per cent comes from syndication. Ping syndicates its content to many platforms.
The content is of broadcast quality and is made economically. The content must have longer shelf-life.
It is still a nascent market, and there is emphasis on scaling. In the US there are popular digital networks — Awesomeness TV, Maker Studios, Fullscreen. With greater penetration of the smart phone, and the access to 4G, the digital networks would thrive in India.
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Blippar
Blippar was developed in 2011, and has been continuously evolving. It has reached around 150 countries. There are close to 50 million downloads of the app. It is expanding. It has reached India towards the end of 2014. It is a reality ad platform. It is an advertising platform that brings products to life. It has revolutionized the way the consumers interact with the brands. It is backed up by the power of image recognition and augmented reality technologies. They keep on improving the image recognition technologies. That brings the consumer to interact with literally any object. Let the consumer point the phone at a food item, a chocolate or a ball. They get engaged in an activity. They are likely to tweet about it. They like the brand page, participate in a contest and then consumer the product.
In India, they have 30 clients. Blippar is a content discovery app. Every time you blip a Pepsi can, different content will show up, ranging from interactive games to contests.
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Betamax Tapes of Sony Phased Out
Sony is finally taking off the market its Betamax tapes, which have not been used for decades. They will stop manufacturing these tapes in March, 2016. Betamax was at war with the VHS format in the 1970s, but it has lost this war. VHS was launched by TVC a year after Betamax was put in the market. Betamax claimed better qualify recordings, but VHS was economical, and could store more. By 1980s, VHS had a huge market. Betamax continued losing the market. Amazon Japan still continues to sell Beta tapes.
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Crafting Stories for New Age Screens
Advertising in new age depends a lot on story-telling to connect, keeping purpose and emotion at the heart of narrative, and allowing the brand/ product to remain in the background. Please do not see story telling as an extended TVC. A 30-second commercial extended to 3 minutes would not make a good story, unless it touches the hearts. The duration and space is incidental. Long format ads reach a different audience. It is not a passive TV audience. As it is possible for people to drop off after the first 15-20 seconds, it is better to aim at depth of engagement. It has to follow the format of inspire, interact and amplify. Long format ads must try to provide new information, and useful information. A good ad has to balance information and entertainment.
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Eros Now
Eros is in cinema. Eros Now is the OTT version for the small screen. It provides entertainment anytime, anywhere. Eros is known for its production and distribution of films for the last three decades. Eros Now is the natural extension of their distribution strength. One need not wait for the favourite TV shows or the films. It is available on Eros Now — movie, music and television. The company will be building an in-app payment mechanism. It is access without appointment. The customers are willing to pay for it. Apart from movies, they will also have exclusive shows, e.g. The Client is an action-packed thriller.
The OTT platform Eros Now has announced six new shows, each between 8 to 12 episodes.
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Content Creation for Digital Formats
Digital formats do need content creation. Some exclusive firms have entered this space. There is a clamour for the eb-only content — the content for mobiles and desk tops. Entertainment channels such as Star, Sony and Viacom have launched over-the-top (OTT) versions HotStar, SonyLiv and Voot. Production houses like YRF, Balaji and Eros have entered into content space. It is great time to offer a platform and work on the content space. YRF Man’s World is a five episode series launched in September, 2015. The next web series for them is Bang Baja Baraat and Jumbo Jutts. It is important to connect the present generation. The entry is not capital intensive. What is important is to understand the audiences. The content is very different from that on the traditional platforms. It is more edgy.
Web series will attract a whole host of talents — writers, directors, producers from the traditional space to the digital space.
Business model of the digital space is still evolving. It is to be seen how best to monetize it. Online revenues are still meager. Getting people to subscribe in a market where piracy is the in-thing is very challenging. There has to be a balance between subscription revenue and advertising revenue. At present web-based serials are advertisement-supported. They are sponsored by a number of advertisers. Smart marketers have realized that it is better to register presence in the digital space to remain relevant for today’s generation and audiences.