25% of digital media spend accounted for search advertising
The past year has been pivotal for digital marketing with digital growth leapfrogging across industries. According to the InMobi Report: Search in India – 2021 Trends Report, leveraging insights from the Microsoft Advertising team, search has been steadily growing as a digital medium as the demand for online services has significantly spiked in the last year. The report showcases insights on the shift in netizens’ online behaviour and their search preferences from the data analysed between April 2020 and June 2021. Commenting on the search trends in India, Rohit Dosi, Director, Microsoft Advertising at InMobi, “In the last few years, digital content consumption has increased manifold. The pandemic has further accelerated digital adoption with people spending significant time on their PC, phones, and tablet screens. These behavioural changes have opened up newer avenues for search advertising and it will perhaps be one of the most effective mediums for brands to reach out to the right audience.” During this period, there was a 125% increase in immunity-related searches, while home-fitness related searches like online dance and home gym saw 28x and 14x increase respectively. Asset management-related searches increased by 13x while those related to digital payments continued to grow at 12%. Hyperlocal, Entertainment, and E-learning searches witness significant increase Branded searches in OTT & music shot up as people opted for online content streaming services at home. A 28x increase was observed for the keyword ‘most popular Netflix series’ and 381x for ‘cricket live score’. There has also been a significant increase in online gaming which is reflected in the 52% increase in online games related searches. Additionally, searches for education and e-learning related content also saw a massive spike.
NFT conversations growing in India: Twitter
Twitter said that conversations around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are growing in India, with their volume increasing by 43% between April and June on the microblogging platform. India has generated over 600,000 tweets on NFTs over the past year, the US-based social media company said. NFTs are digital assets that are bought and sold online. They include art, photos, videos or other digital files. Their data is stored on a blockchain which denotes that the digital asset is not interchangeable. On June 30, Twitter gave away 140 new NFTs – called a drop – and marked its first official entry into the digital assets space, which has surged in popularity since the beginning of the year. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who is extremely bullish on the future of leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin, sold his first tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million in March. Twitter said some recipients resold their NFTs for tens of thousands of dollars after the June 30 drop.The company said it gave the NFTs to a diverse segment of followers, such as NFT enthusiasts and some who were entering the NFT world for the first time from markets such as India, the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan and Singapore. The Twitter hashtags #NFT, #NFTArt, #NFTCommunity and #NFTCollector have been among many that are generating conversations on digital assets in India.
Millennials dominate P2P platform as both lenders and borrowers
Millennials are dominating as the most influential cohort as both borrowers and lenders on peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms according to study done by P2P lender LenDenClub. According to the report by LenDenClub, young and tech-savvy Indians are much ahead of the previous generations when it comes to borrowing or even availing the platform for a new asset class as an investor. Millennials belonging to the age group of 21-30 years were the most active as both borrowers (56%) and lenders (54%) on its platform. This was followed by the cohort belonging to the age group of 31-40 years accounting for 37% in case of borrowers and 33% in case of lenders. India’s silicon city, Bengaluru, topped the chart in terms of people having the highest credit demand. Interestingly, the highest number of lenders too hailed from the tech city of Bengaluru. Other major lending and borrowing markets were Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, showing a clear dominance of west and south. Salaried professionals ranging from CXOs to mid-managerial level, topped the chart as investors on the platform. The report further stated INR 1.81 lakhs was the average investment amount on the platform while INR 50,000 to 1 lakh was the most preferred amount among lenders, accounting to approximately 50% of the pie in terms of value.
Amid online boom, industry bigwigs on shopping spree for internet-based companies
The past year has witnessed dynamic changes in several aspects and internet and mobile penetration has been a major phenomenon. This growth in the online space has led to major growth of internet-based companies in India, in turn, making them attractive for bigger, deep-pocketed businesses. Several mega acquisitions have taken place in the past one year, the latest being the announcement made by Reliance Retail of acquiring a controlling stake in the home-grown online search engine platform Just Dial for Rs 3,497 crore. Recently, Tata Sons’ subsidiary Tata Digital acquired a majority stake in Supermarket Grocery Supplies Private Ltd, the company which is better known as BigBasket. Further, Tata Digital and Reliance Retail have acquired majority stakes in digital health companies 1MG Technologies Private Ltd (1MG) and Vitalic Health Pvt Ltd and its subsidiaries, collectively known as Netmeds, respectively.Both the business houses which are betting big on the e-commerce space are adding these online companies to strengthen their respective online offerings. This larger interest in internet-based companies can be attributed to the business growth these ventures have witnessed amid the pandemic. India’s internet economy is booming aided by a surge in smartphone penetration and declining internet costs. Internet penetration reached 56 per cent in January 2021 and the country’s internet economy is expected to grow from $250 billion in 2020 to $335 billion in 2025.
Think of voice as an integral part of your strategy
With voice technology seeing rapid adoption among Indian mobile phone users, the time has come for marketers and media planners to include voice marketing as a key component of their media mix. Currently, the brands are yet to take advantage of the full potential of voice marketing. Backed by data and case studies, the GroupM VoiceBox report illustrates how brands can use voice marketing as a tool to engage with customers particularly those living in rural India. The biggest advantage of voice marketing is that it cuts across the technological divide as it works on feature as well as martphones. “Building a brand on voice is not as complex as most brand managers think of it. Firstly, marketers should think of voice as an integral part of their marketing strategy and not just a part of their checklist that should be ticked off. Following simple guidelines like building a brand persona and creating an actionable experience for their consumers, focussing on producing relevant and voice friendly content can do magic for brands. Platform recommended agencies can help create enchanting applications on voice,” the report says. According to the report, voice should also be a part of a brand’s SEO strategy. In terms of emerging trends impacting industries across verticals, voice technology is expected to bring a makeover for many industries.
Insurance Fraud Investigations Shift to Digital After Covid-19 Onset
India’s insurance industry has overwhelmingly digitalised its fraud investigations in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new survey of industry professionals has revealed. 68% of the survey respondents said that their organizations were already using digital solutions for investigations, while 19% said they were in various stages of planning the transition to digital. The survey findings are part of a report released today, titled ‘Impact Of Covid – 19 Pandemic On Insurance Fraud Risk Mitigation And Investigation’. The survey also revealed that the industry’s shift to digital fraud investigations is permanent, with 92% of the respondents affirming that the increased use of technology in investigations would continue in the post-pandemic times. Of these, 71% were specific that more emphasis would be on a digital approach. More than one in four (27%) of the respondents said that insurance frauds have increased during the pandemic. There is also an overall increase in insurance fraud investigations after the onset of Covid-19, with 55% of respondents confirming that their professional activities related to fraud-fighting have either increased overall, or increased under a specific area of operation during the pandemic. However, nearly half of the respondents also reported either a budget cut (32%), or zero budget allocation (16%) for investigations.
75% of Indian sports fans use social media over broadcast services for content
Grabyo has released its 2021 Sports Video Trends Report, highlighting the video viewing and purchasing habits of global consumers. To get to the findings, it surveyed over 15,000 consumers across 14 countries. Over three-quarters of sports fans in India use social media as a primary channel for video viewing, with 94% wanting to use online streaming platforms exclusively, according to the report. The study also found a high demand for free-to-access sports content across social media and stated that 73% preferred to see more live sport broadcasts, whereas 62% wanted more instant highlights and social videos. The fans’ mindset with regard to lack of streaming options has increased their demand for the availability of more streaming services in the future. The report also suggested that viewers might stop viewing live sport, if made available only through broadcast TV subscriptions. Grabyo’s findings in 2019 stated that 53% of global sports fans who paid for video services would switch exclusively to streaming by 2024. In 2021, 45% of fans pay only for streaming services. However, by 2026, the pay-TV market will have only a 28% customer share of global sports fans. Broadcast TV subscriptions have fallen by 9% among global sports fans, while online streaming subscriptions have increased by 41%, as per the Grabyo data findings since 2019. 94% of fans in India want to switch to streaming exclusively, whereas 37% of these fans would pay up to Rs 499 per month for a streaming platform that carries sport and 21% would pay up to Rs 749 per month.
