‘Indian gaming industry may rack up $513 mn by CY22 end’
Indian gaming industry is in the process of raising $513 million (around Rs 4,000 crore) by the end of this calendar year, according to a report. The sector has witnessed a funding jump of 380% from 2019 and by 23% from 2020, gaming-focussed venture firm Lumikai says in its new report, State of India Gaming FY22. The report surveyed 2,240 respondents, third-party data providers, industry leaders and Lumikai’s proprietary insights. It further highlights that Web3 has emerged as the most popular technology in games with 30% of 450 Indian Web3 firms operating in gaming. The space has secured $400 million in 2019-22. Web3 or Web3.0 generally means the next generation of the world wide web. “India’s gaming industry this year hit major inflection points, registering strong growth across the board. India crossed half a billion gamers in FY22, up from 450 million in the previous year. Industry growth is expected to be fuelled by a rapidly increasing gamer base, higher conversion to paid users, and increasing sophistication of Indian gamers,” said Justin Shriram Keeling, founding general partner, Lumikai.
WhatsApp launches Communities, new-version of Groups
Communities on WhatsApp has been officially rolled out on a global scale and will be available to everyone over the next few months. Communities has been touted as a major update to how people will be able to connect on WhatsApp in groups and have been cited as neighborhoods – for instance, a community of parents can house various groups like parents at school, workplaces et al, under one umbrella of a community. To get started, tap on the new communities tab at the top of the chats on Android and at the bottom on iOS. From there start a new Community from scratch or add existing groups. Once in a community, users can switch between available groups to get the information needed, when they need it and admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community. WhatsApp has also released three more features: the ability to create in-chat polls, 32-person video calls, and groups with up to 1024 users. Just like emoji reactions, larger file sharing, and admin deletion, these features can be used in any group but will be particularly helpful for Communities.
Snapchat & Amazon Fashion launch an AR Shopping Experience
Snapchat and Amazon Fashion have partnered to launch Virtual Try-On (VTO) experiences, expanding Augmented Reality (AR) for both brands and customers. The new Snapchat try-on Lenses feature Amazon Fashion’s popular Virtual Try-On Eyewear products, enabling Amazon brands to leverage their Amazon AR assets and showcase styles in an interactive experience to millions of Snapchatters. Customers will be able to explore, shop, and digitally try on thousands of eyewear styles directly on Snapchat and then seamlessly purchase in the Amazon Fashion store. More customers are turning to mobile shopping – in the past year, Amazon Fashion customers ordered more than one billion fashion items on mobile devices. The growing Snapchat community of 363 Mn daily active users now have access to Amazon’s popular eyewear brands, including Maui Jim, Persol, Oakley, and Costa Del Mar, among others. Eyewear is the first VTO Shopping Lens category for the Amazon and Snap partnership, and the companies plan to expand into additional verticals in the future.
Google-Facebook duopoly in digital Ad market continues
The Google-Facebook duopoly in the fast-growing Indian digital advertising market continues with their local units—Google India Pvt Ltd (GIPL) and Facebook India Online services—garnering ad sales of Rs 41,115 crore between them in 2021-22. A good indicator of their dominance in attracting marketers to their platforms is the equalization levy the two companies pay the tax authorities in the country. The two majors combined paid Rs 2,277 crore out of the total Rs 3,900 crore that the revenue department collected in FY22 as equalization levy, accounting for nearly 58.4% of the total. Google and Facebook combined posted a 77% year-on-year jump in their ad sales last fiscal while the equalization levy they paid soared 82%, as per their RoC (Registrars of Companies) filings. In 2020-21, the two firms had together gathered advertising worth Rs 23,212 crore from Indian advertisers and paid an equalization levy of Rs 1,254 crore. The equalization levy is a 6% tax on global companies that generate online advertisements from Indian residents or non-resident companies with a permanent establishment (PE) in India.
The State of Modern Marketing in India 2022
MMA APAC, the not-for-profit marketing trade body which is a part of MMA Global, in collaboration with WARC has just unveiled a report titled – The State of Modern Marketing in India 2022. This report highlights the challenges faced in the modern marketing industry, current trends, and future opportunities. To drive growth in the digital age, marketing needs to modernize a specific set of capabilities and mindsets. Findings from this study suggest that over a third (36%) of Indian marketers will spend more than 60% of their budgets on digital marketing, compared to 25% of APAC marketers overall. It further says that budgets (36%) are the biggest barrier to the growth of digital marketing in India.
Key highlights:
Over two-thirds (67%) of respondents highlight brand awareness as a key priority in digital marketing, almost half (48%) of Indian marketers have used Facebook or YouTube for display advertising, YouTube is the top streaming service in India, with 79% of Indian internet users saying they use it. Over four in five (82%) expect digital marketing budgets to increase over the next year, compared to 67% across APAC. Multi-screening has emerged as the most significant consumer behavior (60%). Budgets (36%) are the biggest barrier to the growth of digital marketing in India.
Covid wanes but online sales continue to grow for brands
Latest results of over half a dozen of large consumer goods companies and retailers including Hindustan Unilever (HUL), ITC, Reliance Retail, Tata Consumer Products, Dabur, and Shoppers Stop reveal that online sales continued to grow at a high double digit pace in the first half of the fiscal despite the withdrawal of Covid-19 restrictions and complete bounce back of sales in offline stores, indicating that consumers are buying from both online and offline channels. Reliance Retail, for example, posted more than 60% on-year growth in digital and new commerce business in the quarter ended September. These channels’ contribution to its overall revenues rose to 18% in the period, Gaurav Jain, head of strategy and business development at Reliance Retail, told analysts at a recent earnings call. In FY22, it was 17%. This is despite the country’s largest retailer reporting its highest yet offline sales and footfall in physical stores at 118 million during the quarter. HUL managing director Sanjiv Mehta said in the latest earnings call that digital demand capture, including sales of direct to consumer, ecommerce and business to business orders placed digitally, accounts for over 20% of the total sales of the country’s largest consumer goods maker. The proportion remains the same as it was in the last fiscal.
56% people trust recommendations received on WhatsApp, 24% trust influencers
Whether it’s a decision to buy gold or real estate, go on vacation or save money, or even who to vote for, it’s very likely that it’s influenced by what the media reports in the newspaper and on electronic news channels. According to a survey by Cha-Chi, of over 2000 people over 100 days and 200 cities, Indians are still old school when it comes to making opinions or decisions. The survey found that on average, 86 per cent of the people surveyed consume news from traditional tools whereas 60 per cent from social media. In the survey, traditional media forms of advertising include radio, broadcast television, cable, print, and billboards. The survey was conducted through an all-India tour between the months of September and December in 2021, the agency said. Buying a phone, clothing or imitation jewellery are still things that are ruled by word of mouth, where recommendations by friends or family is trusted. Over 56 per cent of the people surveyed trust recommendations they receive on Whatsapp groups, as against a mere 24 per cent trusting influencers. In the entertainment sector, 71 percent people rely on Whatsapp videos, followed by Facebook to get their daily dose of laughter or spirituality. Those without smartphones depend on their peer circle for it. 63 per cent women acknowledged that they had only chosen their brand based on cost or recommendations of their male counterparts. The survey also revealed that while nationwide people are quite familiar with the new digital technologies and media, many do not view them as the primary sources of news.
RBI’s e-rupee pilot takes off; Day 1 bond trade deals hit Rs 275 crore
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) maiden test of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) being used for secondary market trades in government securities (G-secs) went off without a hitch on 1st November, with 48 trades being carried out for a total of Rs 275 crore. The first deal was struck between the country’s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) and another state-owned lender Bank of Baroda (BoB). SBI was said to have sold securities to BoB using CBDC, or digital rupee. ICICI Bank sold the five-year government paper to IDFC First Bank. According to the website of the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), the transactions were carried out in three government bonds — the current 10-year benchmark bond, the previous 10-year bond, and the most liquid five-year security. The overall trading volume in the regular bond market was at Rs 20,865 crore on 1st November.
Influencer marketing industry in India to reach Rs 2,200 cr by 2025
The influencer marketing industry’s value is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent over the next five years to reach Rs 2,200 crore by 2025 from Rs 900 crore in 2021. The projected rise of the industry can be attributed to the steep growth in the number of creators, and the increasing partnerships between brands and creators, to deliver compelling, relatable story-telling content to the target audience. The Influencer Marketing Report 2022 was released by Influencer.in, an influencer marketing platform and an initiative by Social Beat. The report said that 61.2 percent of all brands recognise the power of influencer marketing to tap into a newer audience pool to boost brand awareness. Larger organizations have recognised influencer marketing as integral to their digital marketing strategies, while smaller organizations recognise its importance, but are yet to invest significant resources into influencer marketing. According to the report, 50 percent of marketers stated that they spend up to 10 percent of their digital marketing budget on influencers annually. While 10 percent of the respondents dedicate over 40 per cent of their annual digital marketing budget to influencer marketing. Instagram is most used by content creators, who are leveraging content formats such as reels to expand their reach, the report said.