2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

DIGITAL
ADVERTISING

2020
IN INDIA
CONTENTS
5
Executive
Summary
7
Indian Advertising
Industry

9
Ad spends
on Media
12
Media spends across
Industry verticals

25
Digital Advertising
Industry in India
27
Spends on
Digital Ad formats

34
Spends by
Industry verticals
37
Spends
on Devices

40
Trends in
Digital Media buying
57
Future
Opportunities

77
Research
Methodology
01
FOREWORD

ANAND
BHADKAMKAR
CEO - DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK
2019 was quite a challenging year for the Indian advertising industry. Once the economic slowdown hit
us all, advertisers decided to cut back on spends, consumers decided to wait-and-watch, market
sentiments reached a new low and India’s Ad Expenditure (AdEx) witnessed a consequential fall.

But even in the midst of it all, digital continued to grow. Check this. The digital advertising industry
right now stands at a Rs. 13,683 crore - a 26% jump from where it stood just a year before. And by the
time we reach the end of 2020, these numbers should be approximating at about Rs. 17,000 crores.

2020 is going to be cricket heavy; and this, along with the upcoming State and Rajya Sabha Elections,
should be able to generate strong demands in advertising. Also, the instant feedback and ability to
track ROI from Digital - some of the most distinguishable traits of this medium, will once again make it
a favourable platform amongst advertisers. As the economy starts looking up in 2020, voice and
technology are going to be the biggest driving forces and, together, they should be able to provide a
huge impetus to the advertising & marketing industry this year.

Digital is a masterstroke in advertising and Dentsu Aegis Network recognizes this strength. We also
recognize the need for an industry level report that can give directions toward which this industry is
moving. The lack of detailed and accurate Digital Advertising Spends data is surprising for a medium
that lends itself to measurement. It is to fulfil this gap that all the 8 agencies of Dentsu Aegis Network -
Isobar, iProspect, Merkle Sokrati, WatConsult, Dentsu Webchutney, SVG Media,Fractal and Amnet,
have collaborated with E4M again this year, for the 4th edition of our Digital Report that extensively
covers Digital trends, spends and insights across all sectors.

We welcome sincere feedback and inputs from the entire industry to help establish a robust eco-system
for this fast growing and increasingly important industry channel, so that all of us can progress
together!

02
03
FOREWORD

NAWAL
AHUJA
CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
EXCHANGE4MEDIA GROUP
When we launched the very first edition of the Dentsu Aegis Network e4m Digital report in 2016, India
was experiencing a digital revolution. The spectacular growth of the Digital medium since then is a
reflection of the advertising market adapting to not only a vibrant digital ecosystem but also to the
digitally savvy Indian consumer. Year after year, our forecasts have underlined how Digital is the fastest
growing medium compared to its traditional counterparts. It is even more pronounced this year.

Despite the economic slowdown, the Indian advertising industry was worth Rs 68,475 crore by the end
of 2019 and is expected to grow by 10.9% to reach Rs 74,952 crore by the end of 2020. Parallelly, the
digital advertising industry, which now stands at Rs 13,683 crore, is expected to grow at 27% CAGR to
reach Rs 17,377 crore by the end of 2020. Therefore, in 2020 too, Digital is all set to keep up its
momentum and buck trends.

The dominant growth factor of Digital comes from the proliferation of smartphones, backed by cheap
data plans, that has shifted a significant amount of digital ad spends to mobile advertising. The mantra
for most brands and digital agencies this year is ‘mobile first’ and this sentiment is reflected in the
growth projections for mobile ad spends. By 2020, advertising spends on mobile devices is expected to
grow by 41% to reach a share of 52% of the overall digital advertising market, overtaking spends on
desktop. Spends on mobile devices are projected to reach a share of 64% of digital ad spends by 2022,
as marketers target consumers glued to their mobile device.

While growth of the Digital medium has lived up to expectations, the challenges for the industry still
remain the same - the lack of a common digital measurement system, data privacy, ad frauds and
viewability concerns.

04
 EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
INDIAN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY AS OF 2019

Advertising Digital Advertising

Industry Industry

`68,475 Cr `13,683 Cr
2019 (~$ 9.64 Bn) (~$ 1.93 Bn)

`94,896 Cr `28,249 Cr
2022 (~$ 13.37 Bn) (~$ 3.98 Bn)

2025 `1,33,921 Cr `58,550 Cr

(~$ 18.86 Bn) (~$ 8.25 Bn)

11.83% 27.42%
CAGR CAGR

05
The Indian Advertising Industry has grown at a Advertising spends on Digital Media is led by
rate of 9.4% over 2018 to reach Rs. 68,475 crore Social Media with the highest share of 28%,
by the end of 2019. The industry will grow by contributing Rs. 3,835 crore to the Indian digital
10.9% to reach Rs. 75,952 crore by the end of advertising pie. This is followed by spends on
2020. It is expected to grow at 11.83% CAGR to Paid Search (23%), Online Video (22%) and
reach a market size of Rs. 1,33,921 crore by Display Media (21%). Display Media, Online
2025. Video and Social Media are expected to have the
fastest growth in 2020. The share of Paid Search
By the end of 2019, the digital advertising is expected to reduce from 25% to 23% by the
industry stands at Rs. 13,683 crore, up at a rate end of 2020.
of 26% from Rs. 10,859 crore in 2018.
Advertising spends on Digital media is expected FMCG segment spends a large share of their
to grow at a CAGR of 27.42% to cross the Rs. digital media budget on Online Video (36%),
50,000 crore mark and reach industry size of Rs. while E-commerce and Consumer Durables
58,550 crore by the end of 2025. This sustained spend mostly on Paid Search and Social Media.
growth can be attributed to the technological
advancements, improvements in data science & On Mobile devices, the expected advertising
analytics, introduction of policies & regulations spends grow by 41% which overtakes the
among others. Desktops reach spends share of 52% to reach Rs.
9,042 crore by 2020. Furthermore, the expected
Television has an unparalleled reach in the Indian spends will reach a share of 64% by 2022.
media market and has the largest share of media
spends in 2019 at 39% (Rs. 26,869 crore). This is 41% of all digital media spends are made on
followed by spends on Print media (31%, Rs. programmatic media buying. With further
19,389 crore). While the share of Television will development in technology in offering increased
remain steady through 2020, spends on Print will flexibility to marketers, greater control on
decline to 27% by the end of this year. creatives and smart optimization, spends on
programmatic media buying will increase at a
Among the various industry segments FMCG has CAGR rate of 56% to reach the market share of
the highest expenditure on advertising i.e. 30% 74% by 2022.
(Rs. 20,182 crore) followed by Ecommerce (10%)
and Automotive segment. FMCG spends a large Advancements in marketing technologies and
majority of their advertising budget on Television subsequent fusion with marketing creativity,
(61%) while Retail, and Automotive spend a large along with the advent of 5G technology and
share of their advertising budget on Print. The increased adoption of E-commerce advertising
biggest spenders on Digital media are BFSI will lead to an evolution of content for the next
(42%), Consumer Durables (38%) and 500 million Internet users, thereby catapulting
E-commerce (37%). the digital media industry towards the Rs. 50,000
crore milestone by the year 2025.

06
 INDIAN
ADVERTISING
INDUSTRY
The Indian advertising industry currently stands World Cup and 2019 General Elections in
at Rs. 68,475 crore and has grown by 9.4% over addition to the Pro-Kabbadi League (PKL) and
2018. festive period, lifted the overall ad spends. The
Government’s commitment to boost investments
This year has seen some reduction in advertising in agriculture, social sector, education, and
spends owing to the decreased economic health is reflected in the Union Budget 2019
growth. Some of the industry segments viz. Auto, which was focused on employment generation,
BFSI and Real Estate have started looking at their infrastructure and farm sector. This increased
return on investments more due to this and are attention on the rural economy at one end,
spending cautiously with big launches postponed easing of the corporate tax and support for the
to the next year. However, the three biggest start-ups is expected to improve the economic
events of the year, Indian Premier League (IPL), outlook.

GROWTH OF INDIAN AD INDUSTRY (INR CR)

12.2%
11.4%
1,00,000 14.0%
10.9%
10.8%
90,000 9.4%
12.0%
94,896

80,000
8.9%
84,602

10.0%
70,000
75,952

60,000
68,475

8.0%
62,564

50,000
56,471

6.0%
51,851

40,000

30,000 4.0%

20,000
2.0%

10,000

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020f 2021f 2022f

Ad Industry Growth

07
2020 will be the year of cricket for India, starting smartphones along with improved telecom
matches with Sri Lanka, followed by Australia, infrastructure and subsequent spending on
South Africa, IPL England and ICC T20 world digital advertising.
cup. This will generate a strong advertising
demand, enabling the Indian Advertising industry
Along with entertainment, need for
to grow with the sustained economic momentum
information is a high driver for consuming
at 10.9% to reach Rs. 75,952 crore by the end of
media. Spending time with family as a
2020. By 2025 the Indian ad industry is
reason is trailing behind. 63% of the total
forecasted to grow with a CAGR of 11.83% to
audience is consuming media to be
reach Rs. 1,33,921 crore. This growth is expected
informed, while 51% are consuming it to
to be driven by the increased customer focus on
connect with friends & family.
rich content, deepening penetration of

FUTURE ESTIMATES OF
INDIAN AD INDUSTRY (INR CR)
1,33,921

G R
C A
83%
.
68,475 11

2019 2025

08
 AD SPENDS
ON MEDIA
The largest share of media spends is taken by crore) and Digital (20%, Rs. 13,683 crore). Given
Television at 39% (Rs. 26,869 crore). This is Television’s unprecedented reach it continues to
followed by spends on Print (29%, Rs. 20,110 be the key media for advertisers.

AD SPENDS ON DIFFERENT MEDIA (INR CR)

39% 29% 4%
Television Print Radio
26,869 20,110 2,479

2% 6% 20%
Cinema OOH Digital Media
1,447 3,887 13,683

While Television has been a leader in terms of TV’s reach has increased to 96% of the
media spends share, it has seen a slower growth total audience. However, its time spent
in 2019 over the last year with its share shrinking has reduced by 21% leading to an
from 40% in 2018 to 39% in 2019. According to average of 11 hours spent per week on
BARC India, 34% of the households in India are TV.
yet to be connected to a television set. This
provides the medium with massive headroom for Print has seen a slower growth with its media
growth. With strong audience loyalty spends on spends share declining from 31% in 2018 to 29%
TV is expected to growth with continued in 2019. English newspapers have been facing
momentum in the next few years. stiff competition from the Digital platforms which

09
has led to a drop-in readership. Regional print per-capita income, growing middle class and
publications have, on the other hand, witnessed working population have been monumental in
growth in ad spends, offsetting the growth for generating huge domestic demand for goods,
the overall medium. especially in the domains of leisure and
entertainment. The growth of multiplex chains
Out of Home (OOH) has seen a growth of 9% has been catalysed by the economic
from 2018 to 2019 to sustain the media spends liberalization and huge volume of demand in this
share of 6%. space, especially in the Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

Being the fourth largest economy in terms of The media spends share on Cinema has been
purchasing power parity and the increasing steady at 2% and increased at a sustained rate of
14% from 2018 to 2019.

MEDIA AD SPENDS - FORECAST

12% 15% 17% 20% 23% 26%

30%

6% 6% 6%
2% 2% 2% 6%
4% 4% 6%
2% 5%
4% 2% 5%
4% 2%
3% 2%
3%
3%
35% 34% 31%
29% 27% 25%
23%

40% 40% 40% 39% 39% 38% 37%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020f 2021f 2022f

Television Print Radio Cinema OOH Digital

MEDIA GROWTH RATE FORECAST: 2019-2020

27% 14% 10% 9% 5% 3%

Digital Cinema Television OOH Radio Print

10
 2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

Numerous cricketing events are spread across In 2020 Out of Home is expected to grow
2020. These events, along with the State and consistently at 9% to retain the market spends
Rajya Sabha elections are bound to generate share of 6%. Urban designers and planners
increased advertising demand in television. believe that advertising will play a crucial role in
There will be a subsequent increase in the source formulating urban business models, with the
of income for the television industry with the advertising revenues funding development and
Government allowing 100% FDI in all segments impetus on smart city projects. In addition to
of the television industry (except for news and that, the growing trend in the digital OOH space
current affairs) and high subscription rates. focuses on capturing relevant data and adopt
Television is expected to grow at a rate of 10% programmatic to drive rate benchmarking and
to sustain the media share of 39% with the minimise the human intervention in buying.
General Entertainment and Sports channels
being the key growth leaders. Cinema is expected to sustain the current growth
rate of 14% through next year, while the growth
Print is expected to grow at a rate of 3% to reach rate of radio is expected to increase to 4.5%
the media spends share of 27% in 2020. This is from 2019 to 2020.
likely to be organic growth from the print
Online music streaming is at par with reach
loyalists viz. Auto, Retail, Media, Entertainment
of radio. Radio’s monthly reach dropped by
and Government advertisements. With the
10% amounting to 41% for total audience.
increasing smartphone penetration, English and
Online music has a competitive monthly
other regional high-end and tech savvy news
reach of 37%.
readers are shifting to the digital news platforms.
Print publications are also gearing up to move
beyond the pure-play print revenue stream to
the digital media to retain their consumer base.

A drop in monthly reach of printed

newspaper is observed across male
segments. Young & middle-aged men are
highest consumers of news website, though
a drop of 15% from last year has been
observed. This can be attributed to slowly
growing numbers of dedicated downloaded
news apps. Younger women are also the
highest readers of news websites amongst
women, with highest growth as well.

11
 MEDIA
SPENDS ACROSS
INDUSTRY
VERTICALS
AD SPENDS BY INDUSTRY VERTICALS (INR CR)

Others FMCG
17,698 20,182

26% 30%

BFSI 5%
3,239
5%
Media & 10%
Entertainment
3,423
5% E-Commerce
6,915
5% 8%
Retail
3,530
6%
Auto
Telecom 5,797
3,628
Consumer
Durables, 4,063

FMCG sector spends the highest share on The ad spends by E-Commerce segment has
advertisements, contributing 30% (Rs. 20,182 seen the highest growth of 25% over 2018.
crore) to the industry. Followed by E-Commerce, Followed by Media & Entertainment (12%) and
contributing 10% (Rs. 6,915 crore) and Automo- Consumer durables (10%) segments.
tive sector, making a contribution of 8%
(Rs. 5,797 crore) to the advertising pie.

12
 2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

AD SPENDS ON VARIOUS MEDIA BY VERTICALS

4%
4%
19% 16% 0.2%
20% 23% 6%
5% 35%
37% 42% 38%
6% 3% 5%
2% 2%
3% 12%
2%
6%
10%
2%
2% 7% 53%
1% 6%
4% 3% 5% 12%
46% 2%
6% 5%
16% 5%
5% 1%
51%
43% 14%

61% 25%

47%

40% 32%
30%
28%
17%
14% 14%

FMCG Auto E-Commerce Retail Telecom BFSI Media & Consumer Others
Entertainment Durables

Television Print Radio OOH Cinema Digital

FMCG spends the largest share of its media of its media budget on Television (40%) followed
budget on Television (61%) because of its widest by Digital (37%). Its share of media budget on
reach. It is followed by spends on Digital and Digital has increased by 4% over last year.
Print. Its share of media budget on Digital has
Retail segment spends the maximum amount of
increased by 2% over last year, and the same has
its media budget on Print (51%) followed by
increased by 6% in Cinema.
Digital (20%). Its share of media budget on
The Automotive segment spends maximum of its Digital has increased by 2% in 2019 over 2018.
media budgets on Print (46%) followed by
The telecom segment spends the largest share of
Television and Digital. Its share of media budget
its media budget on Television (47%), followed
on Print has increased by 2% over last year.
by Digital (42%). Its spends share on Digital has
E-commerce segment spends the highest share risen by 4% since last year.

13
BFSI segment spends the maximum share of its Media and Entertainment segment spends the
budget on Digital (42%) followed by Print. Its largest share of its media budgets on Print (43%)
spends share on Digital has increased by 4% over followed by Digital (23%). Consumer Durables
last year. spend majority of their spends on Digital (38%)
followed by Television (30%).

OOH TV
BFSI, Consumer FMCG, Telecom,
Durables E-commerce

TOP
Radio INDUSTRY Print
Media &
Entertainment, SEGMENT Retail, Auto,
Media &
Retail, BFSI
SPENDING Entertainment

ON MEDIA
Cinema Digital
Media & BFSI, Consumer
Entertainment, Durables,
Consumer E-Commerce,
Durables Telecom

53% of the Internet users watch videos

on YouTube on a monthly basis, the
numbers being as high as 72% for 18-24.

30% of the audience sees more than 7

videos through Whatsapp in a week.

14
 GOPA KUMAR
COO, Isobar

CUSTOMER OF
THE DIGITAL AGE:
GENERATION Z,
DIGITAL FANDOM
CULTURE
15
Generation Z are the customer of the digital age, For millennials like me, we tend to think digital
future consumers and with whom every marketer and physical worlds as very separate places. It’s
wants to engage effectively now and in future. In typical of those who have grown up without
fact, by 2020 they will make up 40% of all smartphones and social media, whereas for Gen
customers. Hence underlying their importance Z that’s just the way of life and how It’s always
for brands and marketers is of prime significance. has been, it’s literally how they grew up. There’s
little distinction between physical and digital.
Gen Z are very independent, practical, impatient
generation, perpetually in a state of rush. These Because of this, the best way to connect with
are youngsters who are born after 1995 and are Gen Z is not just the digital mode but a
digital natives and have never known life without combination of online and offline. Most of Gen Z
digital technologies like internet, smartphones would prefer brand experiences delivered by
and social media. This shift has transformed the combining digital and physical channels.
way we communicate, connect and market with Delivering a consistent approach to marketing
one of the fastest growing consumer markets in across all touch points is more important than
the world. being on any one channel alone.

Some of the characteristics of this impatient &

independent generation are

ROUTINE LIFE 24X7

Gen Z have grown up in a hyper-connected world. The underlying factor for them being instant
gratification, since they are quite cynical and always in state of rush.

They surf on two screens simultaneously. They will always want the latest gadgets and would not mind
paying the premium to get hold of the latest gadgets or phone. Most of them keep looking for content
online but are hesitant to pay for the service to get to the latest movies or songs, for them Torrents or
sharing culture is way of life

They get all the latest trends from social media and latest apps; they keep on challenging the status
quo and also the pre-conceived notions which have been passed on from generations. They are
non-conformists, their fashions are those found worldwide over the web, they want to watch the
blockbusters like Game of Thrones / Narcos at the same time as the rest of the world and they listen to
K-pop. All of this is possible by the connected world which makes access easy, seamlessly.

Digital has democratised the way they consume content and think about this world. New lingos are
formed every day and addition to vocabulary happens, emoji and emoticons rule their world. Things
like these are often incomprehensible for a millennial like me.

And their new role models are the new age internet influencers across the world, young and impatient
like them. They are hooked on to Ariana Grande, Beyoncé PewDiePie, Kush Kapila, Kanan Gill, Bhuvan
Bam, Taylor Swifts of the world.

16
 CONNECTED GENERATION
Generation Z find it easier to talk online than in person. They believe virtual friends are as important to
them as their real-life friends. While they yearn for real experiences, they find it equally comfortable
with both virtual companion and virtual worlds. They are born in the world of Tinder and Bumble,
where meeting people online and then taking those to real world is way of life.

More than eight out of ten are hooked on social networks and more than half of them think that this is
where their real socializing takes place.

INFORMATION SOURCE FOR GEN Z

Since they are born in this dynamic digital world, they have seen changes happen in a jiffy and evolve
constantly. They have seen many technologies and platforms come and go. They know that they need
to be constantly a step ahead of technology to be relevant and hence they keep on seeking
information from the web. They are one-of-a-kind self-learners, using digital means to stay update,
learning to use new stuff via self-help videos on YouTube and making and sharing Do-It-Yourself videos.

They are digital natives, don’t believe in censorship and actively preach freedom of speech. With
consumption of Netflix, Amazon Prime and World Content happening, they are exposed to everything
at a much younger age, making them wiser and more aware and other generations. They are the
content creators who live and breathe Instagram and now TikTok. The rise of social media influencers
on Instagram in this age is not by accident. Gen Z prefer to see real people in making the
“Insta-famous” accounts like fashion models, world travellers with seemingly normal lives, a goldmine
for brands. Brands are leveraging these Instagram accounts for their large network of followers as well
as their authenticity.

HOW TO CONNECT WITH GEN Z

According multiple surveys the average Generation Z spends more than four-five hours a day in front
of a mobile screen and more than 10 hours on content online

They live in constant “FOMO”( fear of missing out) who can’t stand the idea of not being in the loop
when something new and exciting comes out.

This generation hardly believes in reading, they believe in skimming through news and other related
stuffs thus giving rise to news apps like ‘Inshorts’. They believe in multitasking, watch TV and surf
together. Their belief is that Technology & Internet can make anything possible. While some say

17
millennials' attention span is average 12 seconds, the attention span for Gen Z is less than 8 seconds
while actually possessing an eight-second filter which is very capable in screening out irrelevant
information.

The smartphone is their window to the world and Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat
and Twitter are their buddies. Unlike millennials, who in most of the cases are passive content
consumers, these Gen Z are vociferous Content Creators, not afraid to put themselves out there on
TikTok, IGTV, YouTube. Vlogging is the new thing, where they hope to be the next big thing in this age
of Internet Superstars

This Generation reacts more to visuals than texts, they connect with Memes, Emojis & GIFs

WORK@GENZ
This generation are creators who want to run their own company than be working for someone else,
they don’t want to be restricted and confined.

They believe success does not only come from only qualifications and they prefer a flat organisation to
a hierarchy at work. They are exposed to WeWork’s and Google’s way of working and they do not want
to be confined to a routine of 9-5. They also believe in doing what they believe in, they want to pursue
their passion as their career in the long run. Gen Z are less likely to take risks and less likely to seek
stability and security in their jobs and finances. They are also less likely to prioritise a work-life balance.

FUTURE GAZING WITH GEN Z

This is the generation who are living and coping with climate change, environmental concerns,
terrorism, recession, ever-changing world and these issues are shaping their outlook. They are
concerned of what future holds
But like any generation who believe in independence, they want to change the environment they are
in, they love the idea of giving it back to the world and society.

18
 ADVERTISING GOLD MINE AND
INR 50,000 CR OPPORTUNITY BY 2025
Here is what brands need to do to engage with Genz to grab this huge opportunity

Earn their attention – Being Authentic – Treat them

Generation Z is known as the Gen Z sees through the as individuals
social generation and brands false claims, it’s important and personalise
need to cut through the clutter for brands to have an
brand
and so much of information authentic voice and be Real.
communication
before they can even think Work with Influencers and
of capturing their interest. nano influencers to drive
with them
the real and authentic
stories. Brands need
to focus on their values
having brand integrity,
humility and purpose
is no longer just desirable
but absolutely essential.

From a Media point of view, we all know mobile devices are way to connect for Gen Z so it’s important
to customize & design your content for these devices. Some of the upcoming and relevant platforms
for the future to connect to these digital natives are

19
 Social Media
Instagram, Snapchat,
Twitter and TikTok are
way of life

Streamed Video
Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Zee5 , Netflix
and Other vernacular platforms streaming
content are where they are spending time
on, there are other Influencers and
content platforms like TVF which are
going to be ever so important.

Music
Apple, Spotify, Gaana & Jio Savaan,
Amazon Music and Google all are
deeply embedded in the music scene
and connected to Gen Z depending
on which part of the country you are
hooked onto but smaller, more niche
apps are also coming up the scene.
Podcasts have revived like never
before and there is active interest Esports
from Gen Z in these platforms. Voice is going to be the most effective and
is going to be a huge driving force in an important platform to connect to
the future, as the voice devices like Gen Z in future. Most of the Gen Z
Alexa, Siri and Google Home are active gamers
become ubiquitous and increasingly
present in households, it will be
imperative to have a strong voice
strategy going forward.

Gen Z is bound to continue to evolve as all of its still developing, most of them are still in their teens
and are young adults, Time will tell how brands can truly cater to this changing consumer. But the key
for brands will be to stay relevant and continue to engage in their own language and environment that
they can relate to and have communication which they can trust. If one does it well & right, there is
huge advertising and marketing opportunity waiting to be unlocked.

20
 LALIT BHAGIA
CEO, DAN Consult

BRAND
TRANSFORMATION
STARTS WITH CUSTOMER
CENTRICITY
21
The automotive industry has seen a tremendous disruptor, not being customer centric is the
amount of disruption in the last decade, today biggest threat to any business. Just as the
the car manufacturing ecosystem is far more methods devised to manufacture cars has been
advanced than when Maruti opened its first updated to deliver better, it’s time we updated
factory in 1982 one thing remained consistent how we transform brands in this digitally charged
over time: the assembly line. What’s changed and era of ‘technovation’.
today are the components of that assembly line
itself: from humans to hardware, and increasingly The traditional constructs of brand
today, software. An average car today has more expression both visual and verbal, rationally
computing power than the system that guided organized into a consistent and idiosyncratic
the Apollo astronauts to the moon. The reality of system, are overdue on ‘hit the refresh
this gigantic shift has fortified the revolutionizing button’..
shift we’ve witnessed through the automotive present digital setting, where digital is altering
manufacturing industry - from vehicle-based what a brand looks and sounds like, as well as
hardware to software-based mobility. how it behaves —and what it can do.
Why this change? Change in customer centricity At the same time, there is value in brands, we all
and not just technology. We all know the famous agree to this. Transformation is about aligning a
Kodak story where the company didn’t change business to the opportunities provided by the
with changing customer needs and what digital economy and there is only one way to
happened to it. The same has been repeated approach this. It must start with a process of
business after business. Here are a few more self-discovery where the existing data is analysed
examples: and the findings incorporated with published
insights, market facts and competitive analysis to
establish customer needs and the organisations
capacity to cater to them. This helps to create a
NETFLIX DID NOT KILL
BLOCKBUSTER. blueprint for filling the resource gaps, enabling
RIDICULOUS LATE businesses to narrow down ‘brand model’ with
FEES DID.
its ‘brand promise’.
UBER DID NOT KILL
THE TAXI BUSINESS.
LIMITED ACCESS AND
FARE CONTROL DID. ‘A Brand and its positioning should be the
foundation to achieving brand goals, it
APPLE DID NOT KILL
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. might be time to make changes to regain
BEING FORCED TO BUY
the attention of customers and appeal to
FULL-LENGTH ALBUMS DID.
new ones.’
AMAZON DID NOT KILL The rapidly evolving business landscape brings
OTHER RETAILERS.
POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE multitude of challenges; topping the chart is the
AND EXPERIENCE DID. rampant spread of identical standardized

AIRBNB ISN’T KILLING products and services offered. Customer

THE HOTEL INDUSTRY. experiences are shaped through these goods
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
AND PRICING OPTIONS ARE. and service offerings, and any channel which
As you can see technology by itself is not the provides for financial transactions to take place;

22
 consumers with clear vision of what to expect.
This is a significant value-add that businesses can
create for themselves. Throughout a business’
growth, definition of brand and culture can be
the basis for unique and strong customer bonds.

In this riotous, digital era the paradigm shift has

corelating directly to brand identity, led to brands now being experienced through

brand-consumer relationship and platforms and ecosystems other than its own;

employee-consumer relationship. In today’s where touchpoints and channels multiply daily

digital context, where digital is changing what a and interfaces become invisible; where machines

brand looks, feels and sounds like, as well as how are increasingly responsible for deciding

it behaves and what it can do, a brand’s preference, and customer empowerment and

attributes become important in these situations, interactivity has been overtaking the traditional

influencing how customers feel, and affecting thought; brands grow better when holistically

how employees should deliver on built to be relentlessly relevant to their

the brand. A customer-centric business will lead consumers and against their competitors. Each

with the benefits provided for customers. The touchpoint from human to digital needs to be

employee-customer conjunction is hence one of catered with the same diligence in delivering on

the important creators of value in any the service, care and the brands promise –

organization, along with good & service maintaining uniformity in action and quick

innovation, product R&D and process resolution; a combination of tech enablement

improvement. This leads to uniformity in service and data analytics to create model synergy.

delivery, creating a business that is recognized by

the market for its performance, translating into The strategy for doing so isn’t in simply

loyal partners and customers along with a much developing a catchphrase. It requires an

steady stream of revenue. extensive and deep understanding of the sector

in which the organisation operates, along with

‘The transformation to a well-defined business definition of the brand idea in a manner that

culture must flow inward out.’ supports the business. To ensconce this
sequencing, the critical step is in-depth

Business after business, we have realised this identification of key revenue accelerators.

inward change becomes the biggest impediment

in helping brands transform. Any customer-facing The Linchpins: Purpose (Brand Vision),

business, whether it’s within the hospitality Positioning (Differentiation), Brand

sector, healthcare, telecom, direct sale services, architecture (Internal construct), Micro data

or even B2B industries like IT and parts focus, and Customer-Centric Business model

manufacturing, employees are the core

influencers who power brand value. Identifying key business drivers requires both

Characterising a brand’s beliefs and building on qualitative and quantitative market research,

the intra-organisational culture, motivates and these drivers must be further broken down to

directs employees while also providing discern how they can aid in creating a refined

23
and renewed brand definition. The process also showcase the overall health of the business and
requires a competitive scan, which allows the map the entire customer journey of ‘discover, try,
organization to pinpoint attributes untapped by buy, use, renew’.
competitors that can help create the
differentiation factor. The change must be from a Brand & Marketing transformation starts by
successive commerce driven business model to reimagining the entire customer journey.
focus on becoming customer-centric commerce,
understanding customer intent to deliver When we overlay this framework with market
personalized experience at every touch point. realities, where the competitors stand, the space
Some of the questions a brand should ask, are they occupy, we begin to see the opportunities
we leveraging new technology and tools? How for the brand and the areas where it should
can we add agility to our brand and empower focus. Consider it this way, brand &
employees? How can we cultivate flexibility and consumer-centric led business is about
create new partnerships? seamlessly defining and creating a brand,
alimenting it in revenue drivers, focus on
The framework to transformation starts with reinvention with technology aggregators and
devising a common taxonomy of the journey, nurturing it to life in a way easily understood by
metrics and goals, and who in the organization employees across the business and, the
owns various parts of the customer journey. The customers being serviced. The brands' functional
transparency of the journey through a data components appeal to customers’ rational minds,
driven model – democratizes the abundantly but the emotional aspects are vital to building
available data with a brand, both on internal and human relationships between the organization
external interface with consumers; it will and its target consumer clusters.

24
 DIGITAL
ADVERTISING
INDUSTRY
IN INDIA
INDIAN DIGITAL AD INDUSTRY (INR CR)

40,000 32% 32% 40%

28% 28%
27%
35,000 26% 35%

28,249
30,000 30%

25,000 22,156 25%

17,377
20,000 20%
13,683
15,000 10,859 15%
8,202
10,000 6,228 10%

5,000 5%

0%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020f 2021f 2022f

Digital Media Growth Rate

The digital advertising industry has seen a bounce back to 27- 28% Y-O-Y to reach Rs.
growth at Rs. 13,683 crore by the end of 2019, 17,377 crore by the end of 2020 and Rs. 28,249
up at a rate of 26% as compared to 2018 which crore by 2022. The digital media industry is
was at Rs. 10,859 crore. With the increased Govt. expected to grow at a CAGR of 27.42% to cross
impetus on Digital and relaxed economic Rs. 50,000 crore and have an industry size of Rs.
policies, the growth trajectory is expected to 58,550 crore by the end of 2025.

25
Individuals in non-metros are more Higher affinity towards binging
active on productivity & utility apps content behaviour is observed in age
like Paytm, Skype & LinkedIn. 19% of groups below 34 years, vis-a-vis the
non-metro users are accessing Skype lower affinity towards binging in
once a month, against only 16% of above 34 age group.
metro audience. Similarly, 33% of
non-metro users use Paytm at The older age group above 34 years
monthly level, against 28% metro prefer to buy brands which reward
users. them for being loyal, while the
younger age group below 34 years
love to experiment with brands.
Brand loyalty among the younger age
group is on the decline.

FUTURE ESTIMATES OF
DIGITAL AD INDUSTRY (INR CR)

58,550

R
G
CA
2 %
.4
2 7
13,683

2019 2025f

26
 SPENDS
ON DIGITAL
AD FORMATS
AD SPENDS ON DIGITAL MEDIA
BY FORMATS (INR CR)

Other incl. Classifieds

597

4%
Display Social Media
2,793 3,835
21% 28%

22%
Online Video 25%
2,986
Paid Search
3,471

27
Social Media has remained one of the strongest E-commerce platforms brands have begun to
digital ad platforms and has been consistently shift proportion of their Paid Search spends to
successful in increasing consumer engagement E-commerce advertising. Another significant
for brands. This has been a constant trend in trend in consumer search behaviour is the
many of the developing nations where Social emergence of Voice search. The technology to
Media has grown by leaps and bounds despite recognize human voice has been improving
low Internet penetration. In India, this increased constantly and with the increase in consumer
SM usage can be attributed largely to the falling usage, brands will also have to increase their
cost of data usage. On an average, Indians spend presence in this regard.
2.4 hours on Social Media, which is at par with
Spends on Online Video contribute 22% (Rs.
the global average. Given the high time spent,
2,986 crore) to the Digital media pie. This share
Social Media takes the lion’s share of 28% (Rs.
has grown by 32% over 2018, the highest among
3,835 crore) on all ad spends on Digital, and has
the digital media formats. Adoption of Online
grown by 24% over the last year.
Video has seen one of the highest growths in
Paid Search advertising contributes 25% (Rs. India and will continue to grow consistently for
3,471 crore) to the digital media spends market the next few years on the back of increasing
share and is the second biggest digital Internet, mobile and cloud penetration. The time
advertising format after Social Media. It has spent on Online Video is also on rise, thanks to
grown by 23% over 2018. Brands are currently the cheaper and faster mobile data availability
focussing on strengthening their SEO (Search across the country. Apart from the Over-the-Top
Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search engine (OTT) players in the market, major video
Marketing) hygiene practices and integration of broadcasters in the country have launched their
new tools such as click-to-call will make search own OTT platforms, extending their existing
engines a great discovery platform for brands. offerings on digital media. This media is
With the emergence and adoption of expected to see double-digit growth in the
coming years in terms of ad spends.

66% of the men are watching videos online, against 50% women at
monthly level. 18-24 year olds are the highest video consuming
segments, with a 77% monthly net reach of online video.

53% of the Internet users watch videos on YouTube on a monthly

basis, the numbers being as high as 72% for 18-24 year olds. 30%
of the audience sees more than 7 videos through WhatsApp in a
week.

Non-metros are consuming videos more through social media like

Facebook & Instagram.

28
 AD SPENDS
2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

ACROSS DIGITAL
FORMATS –
FORECAST

21% 20%
23%
26% 25% 25%
27%

4% 4%
4%
7% 4%
6% 5%

29% 30%
29%
28%
28% 29%
28%

24%
23% 23%
22%
18% 19% 21%

21% 21% 21% 21% 22% 22%

20%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020f 2021f 2022f

Display Online Video Social Media Other incl. Classifieds Paid Search

29
DIGITAL MEDIA GROWTH RATE
FORECAST: 2019-2020

33% 32% 29%

Display Online Video Social Media

18% 17%

Other incl. Classified Paid Search

Spends on Display media are expected to have share of paid search will reduce further from 25%
the fastest growth of 33% YoY to have a market to 23% by the end of 2020, with a growth rate of
share of 21% by the end of 2020, and 22% by the 17%. Even though search may be growing at a
end of 2022. This will be followed by Online slower rate than other digital media formats, it
Video with a growth rate of 32% YoY to have a still remains a relevant tool for advertisers as
spends share of 23% by 2020. Social Media is most of the consumer journey begins with
expected to have a growth rate of 29% YoY to search.
reach the spends share of 29% by 2020. Spends

30
 VIVEK BHARGAVA
CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Performance Group

THE CHANGING
FACE OF DIGITAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
IN INDIA

31
The ITES (software services and BPO) industry is a USD 187 billion industry out of which almost USD
140 billion come from export. No one can overlook the achievements of companies like TCS, Wipro,
Infosys which have put us on the global map. However, for years without realising our capabilities, we
have exported software services and imported software products and platforms. Similar to us exporting
cotton and importing textiles in the British Era. We were capable then, and we are capable now. So,
don’t get me wrong, I am extremely proud of what we have achieved. I belong to the same set of
entrepreneurs who created digital services companies. But it saddens me when I realise that Infosys has
248,000 people and has a market cap of USD 42 billion, while Microsoft has a market cap of USD 1,180
billion with 150,000 people and google has a market cap of USD 900 billion with less than 100,000
people.

To understand entrepreneurship in that era, one must understand that entrepreneurship was not the
first choice for most people. Post-Independence most wanted a stable government job or wanted their
kids to become doctors and engineers because Indians were deprived of necessities for hundreds of
years; and hence, the priority was stability.

I started my entrepreneurship journey in 1997, and it was difficult to raise capital for a non-services
digital Company even then. Imagine, what difficulties Infosys would have faced.
But the face of Indian entrepreneurship is changing. The entrepreneurs and companies over the next 10
years will be radically different from the companies of the past. Let me elaborate on why it will change
and what the change will be ….

PARENTS RESPECTING THEIR CHILDREN AS ENTREPRENEURS

I went to Israel a few years ago, read a book called Start-up Nation before my visit, the most startling
fact in the book was that mothers in Israel want their children to become entrepreneurs. In India, there
are more than 40 million entrepreneurs, but a significant amount of them entered it due to lack of
education or family business or lack of good job opportunities. The future entrepreneurs are going to
be entrepreneurs because that is their first choice. I am beginning to see that change in India too; I
would love that my daughter becomes an entrepreneur rather than take up a job.

AVAILABILITY OF CAPITAL
Till a few decades back, capital created capital; so, if one did not start with capital, chances of creating
wealth were limited. But today, there are hundreds of private equity firms willing to fund technology
product companies, not to mention thousands of second-generation founders who are betting on new
entrepreneurs in the product/enterprise space.

ROLE MODELS
Earlier, entrepreneurs were either industrialists or software services companies which employed
500,000 people. Today we have examples like Ritesh Agarwal from Oyo, who started the business
before he was 20 and has been able to create a brand and tremendous value for himself in less than
five years. India has 30 unicorns that are expected to grow to 100 plus before 2030. These 100 plus role
models will encourage millions of entrepreneurs to take a product/platform/ brand route rather than
labour arbitrage.
32
 AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCT TALENT
Over the last 10 years, product talent capability has seen an upward trend as technology product
professionals returned from the USA after working in companies such as Google, Facebook etc started
product companies in India. This created training opportunities for others and build products and SAAS
platforms in India. Today, there is a fast-developing ecosystem of Design, User Experience, Product
Planning, Deep Tech, AI talent which allows entrepreneurs to consider start-ups in the Products space.

CHANGE IN THE MINDSET OF PROMOTER COMMUNITIES OF INDIA

India is a land of millions of small businesses, even some of the largest businesses are owned by
families. One would build a conglomerate of tens of companies, all owned by the families, and hence,
there was no need to share the wealth. These companies could attract professional talent and the
companies could be managed effectively. In the last 10 years, promoters of some of the largest
companies have realised that retaining entrepreneurs and keeping them motivated through equity can
help in generating more wealth. The most surprising example is Jio. Who would have expected
Reliance to acquire companies like Haptik and retain the entrepreneurship with equity stake?

THE MOVE TO SAAS, CLOUD COMPUTING

If one has less capital, building a perfect product, packaging, marketing and distribution are almost
impossible. Software as a service and cloud computing allows starts up to get going with little capital,
go after niche audiences and keep raising capital as they grow and acquire more and more customers.
There are tens of example of unicorns that have been created with almost zero external capital.

EASIER TO GO GLOBAL
I sold my services companies to Dentsu, however scaling services companies globally even when you
are a part of the network is extremely difficult. Inside Dentsu Aegis Network our data sciences team
called Dentsu Aegis Network Data labs has been able to scale up their products to 25 countries. Today
Zomato, OYO, Ola, Zoho were able to scale up their businesses globally under their own brands, this
will accelerate even faster over the next 10 years.

I am confident that India is going to reach a $10 trillion economy by 2030, however, it would not
consist of companies that are helping global companies in the developed nations create 10X the
wealth we are creating, and these companies would be global brands that compete with the best
global companies in their own markets.
I am so excited about the future of entrepreneurship in India that I have made 13 angel investments in
the last 2 years and will do 50 more over the next 10 years. However, the purpose is not to hope that
one of these companies becomes a unicorn but work with these entrepreneurs and ensure that a few of
them become one. We are living in the time of awesome opportunities, I hope all of us come together
and work in making this technology ecosystem amongst the best in the world.

33
DIGITAL MEDIA
SPENDS ACROSS
INDUSTRY VERTICALS
AD SPENDS ON DIGITAL MEDIA
BY VERTICALS (INR CR)

Others
780
Retail
719
6%
FMCG
Media & Entertainment
783
5% 3,745
27%
6%
Auto
923
7%

Telecom 9%
1,260

10%
BFSI
1,354
11%
19%
E-Commerce
Consumer Durables
2,579
1,539

FMCG makes the highest contribution of 22% (Rs. 3,745 crore) to the Digital media industry. This is
followed by E-Commerce, which contributes 19% (Rs. 2,579 crore), Consumer Durables (11%) and BFSI
segment (10%). The share of spends on Digital has increased by 2% for the E-commerce segment and
1% for the Media and Entertainment segment.

34
 AD SPENDS ON DIGITAL MEDIA BY
FORMATS AND VERTICALS

20% 24%
27% 25% 32% 27%
34%
38% 35%

11%
4%
4%
12%
10% 1% 3%
4% 17%
39%
27% 17%
44% 23%

26% 30%
36%
28%
26%
21% 11% 15%

13% 13%
14%

26%
23% 19% 23% 24%
19% 21% 18%
13%

FMCG Auto E-Commerce Retail Telecom BFSI Media & Consumer Others
Entertainment Durables

Display Online Video Paid Search Others incl. Classifieds Social Media

FMCG spends the highest share of its digital Telecom segment spends the highest share of its
media budget on Online Video (36%) followed digital media budget on Social Media (35%)
by Social Media (27%) and Display (23%). followed by Online Video (26%).

Automotive segment spends maximum share of BFSI segment spends 39% of its digital media
its digital media budget on Paid Search (27%), budget on Paid Search, followed by 26% on
followed by Online Video (21%), Social Media Display and 24% on Social Media.
(20%) and Display (19%).
Media & Entertainment segment spends its
E-Commerce segment spends 44% of its digital digital media budget on Social Media (32%),
media budget on Paid Search, followed by Social Online Video (28%) and Display (23%).
Media (25%).
Consumer Durables segment spends 30% of its
Retail segment spends the largest share of its digital media budget on Paid Search followed by
digital media budget on Social Media (38%), 27% on Social Media.
followed by Paid Search (26%).

35
 TOP
INDUSTRY
SEGMENTS
SPENDING
ON DIGITAL
MEDIA
FORMATS

Social Media Display Online Video Paid Search Others

Retail, Telecom, BFSI, FMCG FMCG, Media & E-commerce, Consumer
Media & Media & Entertainment, BFSI Durables, Auto
Entertainment Entertainment Telecom

Monthly online video reach is significantly higher than

social media. Viewing online video content is driving the
internet consumption.

53% of total audiences consumes online video on YouTube

at monthly level up by 116%.

36
 SPENDS
ON DEVICES
DIGITAL MEDIA SPENDS
ACROSS DEVICES (INR CR)

Desktop Mobile
7,254
53% 47% 6,429

The consistently increasing penetration of Internet usage along with the falling data costs of
high-speed mobile Internet has made the mobile phones a screen of choice for most Indians,
overtaking desktops. Usage of desktops have mostly been limited to official or educational purposes.
Spends on Mobile contributes 47% (Rs. 6,429 Crore) to the digital media ad spends share. This has
grown by 26% over 2018.

Monthly mobile internet reach has grown by 49%, delivering a monthly reach
of 64% in total audience.

37
DIGITAL MEDIA SPENDS ACROSS DEVICES
BY AD FORMATS (INR CR)
Classified
315

4%
Display Social Media
1,268 2,082
18% 29%

Desktop

22%
Video
1,601
27%
Search
1,988

Classified
282

4%
Video Social Media
1,753
1,385 27%
22%

Mobile

23%
Search
24%
1,484
Display
1,525

Social Media contributes the highest proportion to the digital media ad spends on mobile devices at a
rate of 27% (Rs. 1,753 crores). This is followed by spends on Display (24%), Search (23%) and Online
Video (22%). Spends share on Desktop is led by Social Media (29%, Rs. 2,082 crore), followed by Paid
Search (27%), Online Video (22%) and Display (18%).

Playing games is amongst the top 3 activities done on phone for all individuals
(39% in an avg. week). Much ahead than social media (29%) & searching (26%).

38
 2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

DIGITAL MEDIA SPENDS ACROSS

DEVICES - FORECAST

64%
63%

59%
57%

52%
53%

53%

48%
47%
47%
43%

41%
37%

36%
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020f 2021f 2022f
Desktop Mobile

Ad Spends on mobile devices is expected to With the improved and affordable data infra-
grow by 41% to overtake that on desktops and structure, a large proportion of currently
reach spends share of 52% to reach Rs. 9,042 on-board and soon to be Internet users will be
crore by 2020. It is expected to reach spends mobile natives. This will require the stakeholders
share of 64% by 2022. in the digital advertising ecosystem to ramp up
the user experience and engagement while
balancing it with mobile advertising through
improved UI/UX.

39
TRENDS IN DIGITAL
MEDIA BUYING

41%
56%
67%
74%

59%
44%
33%
26%

2019 2020f 2021f 2022f

Direct Programmatic

Spends on Programmatic buying contributes which result in increased ROI. We expect

41% of the digital media pie, currently standing programmatic media buying to grow immensely
at Rs. 5,568 crore. The adoption of programmatic with increased investments from marketers and
has evolved the digital media by offering market- grow at a CAGR of 56% to overtake direct media
ers increased flexibility, greater control over buying by 2020 and reach a market share of 74%
creatives and smart optimization capabilities by 2022.

40
 THE LONG AND
SHORT OF ROI:
DEFINE.
MEASURE.
SHARE.

ROI or Return on Investment is a tricky concept, especially digital marketing ROI. While what is the
right metric to measure and report has been a long-standing debate, the real question is “when”
to measure. Measuring ROI over the length of the sales cycle can lead to more accurate reporting,
greater marketer confidence, and improved campaign management.

The Indian digital marketing industry is incredibly competitive today. As marketing campaigns
become more dynamic, real-time, and data-driven, measurement is becoming a key discussion
point in boardrooms. Yet marketers are struggling to highlight their impact or true Return on
Investment (ROI) when reporting on performance.

A recent LinkedIn research surveyed over 4,000 digital marketers and found that digital marketers
all around the world are struggling — struggling to calculate their impact, share that impact with
key stakeholders, and market that impact across their organisations. This happens because digital
marketers are under pressure — from stakeholders and the broader business — to deliver results
quickly.

41
Here are the common behaviours of digital
marketers in India, when it comes to ROI and
measurement:

DIGITAL MARKETERS ARE MEASURING

ROI TOO QUICKLY
70% of digital marketers across the globe claim longer -- one of the lowest amongst all regions,
to be measuring digital ROI today, but we’ve lower than the global average of 4%.
found that they are measuring this impact long Why is this a problem? Well, the full return on a
before a sales cycle has concluded. The typical campaign cannot be accurately determined until
B2B sales cycle can last anywhere from one after the sales cycle is completed. For example,
month to two years — but the average B2B sales how can you determine the value of the leads
cycle usually takes place over six months or you’ve produced as a demand generation
more, especially as marketers focus on brand organisation unless you know how many of those
building marketing objectives; and yet, our leads converted into customers?
research shows 78% of digital marketers in India And what’s worse - we see this trend irrespective
measure ROI within the first 30 days of the of marketing objectives, whether a marketer is
campaign. In fact, only 3% of digital marketers focused on brand building or customer
are measuring ROI over a 6-month period or acquisition!

DIGITAL MARKETERS ARE NOT

REALLY MEASURING ROI
When digital marketers begin to think about ROI 81% of Indian digital marketers claim to measure
measurement, it can feel natural to gravitate ROI today, which strongly reinforces India’s
towards commonly used marketing metrics, such data-driven stature. However, another finding
as traffic and clicks. While these metrics might be shows that 50% of the digital marketers with a
more readily available, they aren’t really lead generation objective claim to use
measuring ROI. Instead, they are key cost-per-click as their ROI metric, which does not
performance indicators (KPIs), which should be show impact-per-advertising dollar spent. Ideally,
primarily used to optimise. These KPI metrics cost-per-lead is a better measurement metric
maybe, as the name implies, indicators of a here. This is the highest percentage among all
potentially strong return on investment, but they countries, clearly indicating that Indian marketers
fall short of measuring the true impact and value are measuring short-term impact in the form of
of one’s advertising investment. KPIs allow KPIs, which is not an accurate reflection of ROI.
marketers to assess the short-term impact of KPIs are a forward-looking predictor of end
their campaigns, but likely do not tell the full performance, whereas ROI is used as a
story of the value a campaign (or campaigns) are backward-looking informer of future budget
driving. allocation decisions.

42
 DIGITAL MARKETERS STRUGGLE TO
MEASURE ROI DUE TO INTERNAL PRESSURES
Why are digital marketers measuring ROI so quickly? Based on our research, we found that digital
marketers appear to be under intense pressure to prove the ROI of their efforts to secure additional
budget and earn recognition.

Proving positive ROI enables marketers to earn recognition and additional budget, which in turn incen-
tivises quicker communication of performance metrics. As such, short-term digital marketers (those who
measure ROI in less than one month) are 2x more likely to have budget allocation discussions at least
once a month. When budget allocation decisions are made on short term performance, marketers might
put more money into a campaign that demonstrated initial lift but lacks the longevity of impact. This
could also mean that channels or campaigns that could be better served by additional funding, but need

“
more time, are short-changed.

With 64% of digital marketers telling us that

”
they need to prove ROI in order to justify
spend and get approval for future budget
ask, it is no surprise that there is a rush to
measure ROI.

Another pressure marketers face is providing proof of performance to be recognised. Unless you show
results, it is difficult to be applauded for effort or success. It then becomes understandable why digital
marketers feel the need to quickly demonstrate success rather than waiting until the end of the sales
cycle to highlight performance.

43
DIGITAL MARKETERS ARE LESS MOTIVATED TO
SHARE ROI WITH NON-MARKETING STAKEHOLDERS
In measuring too soon, digital marketers instinctively understand that their metrics fall short of telling a
complete story. It’s likely one reason why almost half of digital marketers are not actively sharing ROI
metrics.

Further data shows that ROI metrics are often shared selectively throughout the organisation and not
with all stakeholders. For instance, of those digital marketers who do actively share ROI, 49% are just
distributing their ROI performance with other internal marketing teams.

Additionally, only 29% of digital marketers share with finance. And about a third (33%) share with Sales. At
best, this approach of not sharing ROI across the organization hides marketing’s light under a bushel — it
siloes marketing efforts and doesn’t integrate them with the business growth. At worst, this approach can
call into question marketing’s effectiveness, which leads to hamstringing of budget which in turn leads to
impact of ability to positively affect the bottom line.

ROI is a marathon, but too many marketers have been busy sprinting. It’s time to rethink ROI.

DEFINE MEASURE SHARE

What is the long term return ROI over the length of your ROI metrics with partners
specific to your objective sales cycle and stakeholders

Quite unintuitively, marketers must remember that to grow, they must slow down and adopt a
long-term measurement mindset.

44
 TANAY KUMAR
Co-founder, CEO and Chief Creative Officer,Fractal Ink

INFORMATION
ECONOMY
VS EXPERIENCE
ECONOMY
45
Let’s first distinguish experience from a service or product to building experiences around its
a product offering. More than often we confuse personality. Today the value of associating
an experience as a supplementary offering to sell oneself to the RedBull brand is much bigger than
a service or a product better. This is because the value of the drink. Hence terming Experience
most organisations find it hard to see this economy as supplementary to product would be
non-tangible form of offering as a distinct money like acting blind to the obvious.
making opportunity. Here are some examples
which can help distinguish a service or a product HBR (Harvard Business Review) in their report has
from an experience. classified economic zeitgeist as experience
economy which is fourth in line after agrarian,
Consider yourself driving a taxi and the main industrial and service economy.
service that you are selling is travel from one
point to another. By all means, the consumers Then why are we talking about “experience
should see this service uni-dimensionally and economy” being challenged by “Information
should pay the same price to any other service economy”.
who does the same. But yet today the uber and
OLA of the world are charging bigger bucks for With the establishment of experience economy
the same offering and people are flocking on to as a viable and a separate value generating
it. The question is why? This is because they built direction for organisations, we now have
a business, not on the commodity that you were competing experiences in the same space.
selling i.e. “travel”. They based it on their Disney theme parks competing with Universal
hypothesis of inconvenience that a consumer theme parks, Uber competing with OLA in the
goes through while looking for travel which is a cab experience space, emirates competing with
far more valuable problem to solve than the Etihad in the flying experience space and it
commute. That extra that these companies seems like they have unravelled a new currency
charge and consumers happily pay is a separate for themselves with experience economy.
value proposition from travel all together which
when clubbed with travel is making it much more But as we mature in this newly found ground, we
valuable. also see it being blatantly copied for quick
success and has diluted the very proposition of
From paying 400 bucks for a cup of coffee at experience creation. When you create an
Starbucks, which might cost a mere 30-40 bucks experience you create distinct memory in the
anywhere else to spending a fortune on wedding minds of consumers for which they come back,
planners for a theme or destination weddings are but if they encounter a lot of it in the similar
all products of experience economy where value space then it loses its identity and it becomes
is derived from not any particular product or hard for the consumers to distinguish one brand
service but from the lasting memory it creates in from another. This phenomenon has been seen in
your mind. consumer product market and services domain
and was the very reason we graduated from one
RedBull is a classic example of a brand that has model to another.
completely moved away from promoting its

46
 This age of Information Economy is powered by
huge investments being made in developing
techniques by organisations that can help them
create this new offering which is tailored for each
being. It’s been questioned, laws have been
activated to be able to control the amount
So how does the Information Economy
information one can hold and use. Ethics are
challenge it and give experience economy a new
being brought into the game and privacy has
path to move into. We are living in the age of
become the new wealth that one needs to
super connectivity with information flowing in all
protect. But the truth is, we have already
directions at break-neck speed. Today we are
committed ourselves to this new currency. We, as
able to capture a whole lot of intelligence by a
consumers no longer want random things
simple interaction from the consumer. When you
popping up in front of us hence we freely put our
pick up your phone early in the morning, it
preferences. We feel good when the air hostess
knows exactly what kind of news you are after
already knows our name and addresses us by it.
and prepopulates the reading list for you without
She tops it with knowing your food preference.
any effort. Your map knows that 95% of time
We never question how he/she is doing it.
when you turn your car ignition on at 8:00 AM
Something that’s hyper personalised, is seldom
your destination is going to be office. Your
seen as a privacy loss, because it saves us from
microwave at 11:00 PM knows that you are
so much trouble of going through millions of
probably not cooking but just heating something
choices.
up. Your fridge knows your ingredients inside
and your taste as well to quickly whip up a recipe Information Economy is here to stay and will
for you. All these are distinct experiences which yield into something that we cannot comprehend
is cannot be same for you and me and that’s today. From choices made at individual levels to
what creates value. governments being formed to run a nation will all
rely on information economy and be directed
So how does one experience manifests itself in
by it.
so many different ways and create a sense of
individuality and not let you switch easily from We will not know so much about ourselves as the
one brand to another. systems would know about us. Brace yourself to
be taken on a ride which is laced with hyper
This very phenomenon is what we call Hyper
informed environment around us. Next time
Personalisation or Extreme personalisation of
when you pick up a sandwich or listen to a song
services/products or experiences, and it is
or read a piece of news or vote for a candidate
powered by information gathering and then put
just remember it’s been programmed for you to
to use in a unique way which makes your
do so and no longer it’s a free choice your mind
experience distinct. You would have heard “Data
is making. It’s the whole web of information
is the new oil” and it’s true to its last alphabet.
that’s personal to you and you are surrounded by
The more information you can collect from your
is making you decide.
users the bigger chance you have to have them
on your side when they are making a choice. Welcome to the age of Information Economy.

47
CREATIVITY
& TECHNOLOGY:
A SYMBIOTIC
RELATIONSHIP
Technological advancements have been determining and maximizing the returns on
changing the way people consume content and marketing investments.
hence, disrupting the traditional way the
advertising industry functions. With the advent of The brands with the use of data can work
the data-driven era of marketing, strategies can together and infuse in the data sources to
no longer be based just on intuition, they will develop the ecosystem, a great example would
have to be backed by data. be, a grocery brand with the accumulation of
data from several years on consumers food
In an era where the customer-brand relation has spends could potentially partner with health
evolved to be more complex and challenging, insurance companies to lower rates that hit a
data-driven technology enables marketers to certain threshold for purchasing healthier food.
understand consumer behaviour and thus shape Switch to health and wellness-driven choices.
the dialogue with the brand. There is a marked consumer shift towards
products and services that are perceived to be
Thus, today's marketers and advertisers have relatively healthy and less harmful or that
been working to maintain the fine balance enhances people’s sense of physical, mental
between data-driven technologies, emotions and wellness and the environment.
creativity in their strategies to address today's
demands and be able to meet the challenges of Brands can leverage data to inform current and
tomorrow. future product development. Brands are eliciting
full-scale participation, by getting customers to
Data analytics tools can process huge data of act as a part of the brand. Airbnb uses the model
users from which consumers can be segmented of customers acting as a brand, wherein the
based on the patterns and behaviour, resulting in customers change hats from being educators,
clusters based on behavioural patterns. This trainers and customer service providers. The
extracted data with the use of mathematical duality in the customer actions promotes the
algorithms are used to predict the consumers’ brand without explicitly asserting additional
attitude, behaviour and estimate the likelihood marketing efforts
of purchase in the near future. It is also helpful in

48
 THAPAS JOSEPH
President, Fountainhead Digital MKTG

USING DIGITAL TO TELL A STORY:

TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVITY
COME TOGETHER TO TRANSFORM
DIGITAL INTO THE NEW
BRANDING MEDIUM
49
Across time, societies and cultures, mankind has The simple voice message can be pathbreaking
been bound together by stories. From simple when combined with IVR and AI, even within
sign language to the invention of the written seemingly complex contexts. At Fountainhead
word, the rapid evolution of mediums has Digital MKTG, we put this principle into action
continuously enhanced and evolved our with an app we deployed for the Aditya Birla
narrations and narratives. Skipping ahead to the Group. A diverse employee workforce across
present day, digital media has created a whole geographies and functions participated in
new immersive playground within which we strategy ideation by submitting ideas via a voice
experience storytelling, from tales told via haptic AI. The Group benefited from this influx of ideas
feedback to story worlds made explorable within and perspectives, strengthening the customer
digital simulations. centricity of their products and services to
ultimately achieve real-world revenue impact.
At a macro-level, immersive storytelling is Group employees can now proudly say that they
altering the way we access culture and tangibly contributed to the growth story of their
consequently, everything we do. Today's digital employer, at a strategic level.
consumer requires the perfect balance between
convenience and tangibility, with minimal effort. The growing ubiquity of digital personal
While India’s internet boom gave brands access assistants throws up more possibilities for
to consumers with varying degrees of internet voice-based interactions. Your next online
proficiency, the mobile-first nature of this boom shopping spree might be aided by a chatbot
has led to some interesting and unique fuelling your cognitive assonance to tell you a
developments, unlike those seen in other story of why and how they’d use a product,
markets. based on your advanced consumer profile.

In this environment, content makers have risen to XR, the generalist term for Augmented, Virtual
the occasion, and true to the democratising and Mixed Reality, provides an extensive canvas
nature of the internet, so has the junta, creating for creative marketers to immerse people, more
homespun vernacular content across platforms seamlessly than ever, into the stories they create.
like TikTok and YouTube. The field is now open People react far better to stories that go beyond
for brands to innovate and create delight, by a screen. Hence, this confluence of the physical
harnessing the numerous avenues within which and digital world gives XR an edge over other
we can create experiences. communication platforms.

First off, ‘interactive’ is not synonymous with Take Augmented Reality for example. What
‘complex’, especially in terms of accessibility. started off as boardroom gimmicks and games
After all, Netflix has demonstrated exactly that has now unlocked various strategic possibilities
by turning the humble linear video on its head, for brands with point-of-sale experiences, even
allowing us to pick and create individual going several steps ahead to drive commerce.
storylines from the many possible options in its Breaking the shackles of specialised applications,
interactive Black Mirror film, Bandersnatch. AR is witnessing widespread adoption by both
customers and brands.

50
 One of the reasons for this shift towards AR is storytelling can help turn VR into an effective
the innovative interactivity that emerges from the Enterprise solution, helping large organizations
coming together of human and software vision. achieve strategic objectives through the imple-
With advancements in wearables, AR helps users mentation of these experiences.
extract data and explore background stories as
they view an object in real time. For example, Here’s a dilemma that Mahindra Treo, an e-rick-
our XR solutions for French Furniture & Home shaw brand, faced: The brand wanted to share its
Décor giant, Groupe Adeo, helps users all over values of innovation and sustainability with its
the world accurately visualise how products large, specialized and otherwise ‘transactional’
would fit into their homes. It is an experience audience. The dilemma? Reaching out to said
that is driving customer engagement and audience, and ensuring that these values were
purchase in a manner that no other kind of communicated clearly and effectively. We helped
digital marketing, let alone non-digital market- Mahindra Treo communicate their product
ing, ever could. Another factor in favour of AR is benefits as well as their vision for a better and
the constant evolution of software with superior more sustainable future directly to auto-rickshaw
spatial understanding, depth of vision and drivers, through an immersive Virtual Reality
analysis of multiple views. These improvements, experience that literally put them in the driver’s
coupled with the relentless upgrades in smart- seat. It drove the point home better than any
phones and AR-based wearables, are reason single or combination of print, video or tradition-
enough to believe that we are on the brink of an al messaging could. Thus, being able to deploy
AR revolution. VR at scale will prove to be a game-changer.

In the larger scheme of things, the stories we The emergence of XR and the reimagining of
want to tell need to be matched with the most existing features such as Interactive Videos and
effective medium. Take the digital storytelling Voice has seen Digital Media explode as a
medium of Virtual Reality. Offering a depth of riveting medium to immerse users into a story. It
immersion that was not possible with other is time to change the way we look at storytelling
mediums, VR is quickly escaping the shackles of and explore how we can now not just personalise
clunky, expensive headsets, resulting in diverse messages for our audience, but rather change
applications and greater adoption. their worlds for them - at least virtually!

Marketers have explored the utilization of VR for

Education & Training purposes, like in healthcare
or industrial safety training, where simulations
prove to be highly effective. These use cases
have demonstrated that the inventive use of

51
EVOLVING CONSUMER
PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR
Consumer behaviour has evolved towards a non-linear pattern. With the availability of numerous
options, information, and decreasing attention span, purchase is becoming a complex decision and is
not as straight-forward as the funnel-based approach in the past. Awareness is still the very foundation
in the process of purchase. This leads to familiarity and consideration as the next steps. While in the
consideration phase, the consumers often evaluate the offerings and the proposition. The brand
experience and communication creates a big difference in a future purchase. This has increased the
importance of pre and post-sales services. A large majority of the purchases happen on how a
consumer 'feels' during the transaction

Evaluate

Awareness Familiarity Consideration Experience Purchase Advocate Loyalty

+
Need Trust
recongnition

Technology can be leveraged to understand user behavioural patterns. In this regard, artificial
intelligence and machine learning are useful in providing marketers with a greater understanding of the
consumer's purchase behaviour. It is also important for marketers to adopt a data-backed approach to
reduce the Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), resulting in better conversions and higher margins.

52
 RUBEENA SINGH
CEO, iProspect India

SUSTAINING THE DIGITAL

GROWTH RATE: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
AS A DIFFERENTIATOR IN A DATA-DRIVEN
WORLD, THE EVOLUTION OF DIGITAL
AGENCY IN THE TECHNOLOGY ERA
53
DIGITAL IS WHERE THE CUSTOMER IS. digital ecosystem to acquire customers, there is

It was less than a decade ago that companies gap in building consistent brand experiences.

started building their digital assets. Hover Keeping the customer at the core, experiences

animation, basic sound effects, etc. were need to be built from the first interaction

considered the pinnacle of digital interaction. through the entire purchase journey.

But the last couple of years have seen the digital Today, companies have recognized the need to

ecosystem grow multi-fold with technology deploy technology solutions to give a smooth

advancements. Screens have changed- from and consistent experience across all digital assets

desktops to mobile and access to data has been (website, app, social media etc.).

democratised. Content consumption and data But having one universal consistent experience

habits have evolved. And so have the does not suffice either. The consumer

expectations of the digitally savvy consumer. expectations & behaviour has changed with time.
Customers want relevant and personalised

New products at competitive prices are a basic experiences and seamless transactions, be it

expectation from the digital customer. By while buying a new insurance policy or planning

themselves alone, these aren’t enough to retain their next holiday. As per a research done by the

customer attention. The overall brand experience Journal of Consumer Research, more than 50%

and trust is paramount. While brands have of customer experience is based on emotions

successfully focussed on the numerous which then shapes their decisions. Satisfied and

sophisticated media solutions available in the happy customers will give brands an advantage

54
 over others in the market. high-performing combinations of their creative
assets to their audiences at scale. Brands can

For example, an airline brand which operates now create multiple combinations of ad creatives

over hundreds of daily flights across multiple with minimum turnaround time and with minimal

destinations and has fluctuating prices, requires manual intervention. iCapture works in

multiple creatives for each route and experiences conjunction with iCreative to create dynamic and

need to be built on audience personas. Or in personalised landing pages. These pages are

case of an ecommerce player, with multiple SKUs mobile-first, responsive, SEO friendly and have

and varied customer preferences, thousands of interactive lead forms & chatbots to optimise

personalised experiences would be needed. conversions. These tools could be integrated

with the Lead Management System with an

Hyper-personalization is the need of the hour! analytics dashboard helping understand real time

There are several existing technologies to help customer behaviour.

create personalized communication at scale.

However, the experience is broken. Landing The future of the digital growth will be

pages need to mirror the creatives. Moreover, determined by how one enhances CX to stay

these personalization solutions work only for ahead of the curve. Because CXM is no longer

known audiences. There is a bigger opportunity good to have, it is mission-critical if brands need

to create personalization for unknown audiences. to survive the next era of digital. And to achieve
this, innovation will be the key. CXM can be

This is why CXM – Customer Experience expanded to cover voice, chatbots, wearables

Management – is key. It is a set of technology etc. iProspect has already launched iProspect

tools & design philosophies which allows for Voice Assist (iVA) to provide voice-enabled

both hyper-personalization and seamless marketing solutions to its clients.

experiences from start to end. Brands need to invest in CXM if they want to

iProspect has a propriety CXM suite built by the keep consumers happy and give them a unified

agency’s technology practice - Solution Labs. and personalised experience. This will lead to

This suite of tools allows any brand to easily better conversions.

provide their customers with a unified &

personalised (brand) experience with minimal To wrap it up, ‘Customer is King’ might be an

human intervention. The marquee products - age-old advertising mantra which stays true to

iCreative & iCapture help to build dynamic ad every business even today. The new twist is

creatives and dynamic landing pages Digital, which is the way to court and win over

respectively. the King! Long live the King.

iCreative helps advertisers automatically deliver

55
56
 2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

FUTURE
OPPORTUNITIES

57
NEXT
GENERATION
CONNECTIVITY
Higher speeds and faster connectivity in wireless network services will be ushered with the introduction
of 5G services in India. Its advent will open new avenues for the advertising ecosystem. This technology
will evolve the television market, resulting in major shifts in online content viewership.

5G will change and enable the creation of newer business models and services. Content consumption
would evolve drastically, and experiences will be channeled through introduction of newer sensory
dimensions. These sensations will be delivered via haptic suits with the application of sensory layers in
the content format, enhancing the consumer experience in games, movies, in-car experience and other
arenas.

Apart from the experiential evolution 5G brings about in gaming, it will also lead to advancements in
hardware and servers. This will lead to processing heavy loads of data in lesser time, pushing
boundaries of cloud gaming to incomprehensible limits.

The introduction of 5G will bring change in the dynamics of the mobile network connectivity, even
businesses will be able to provide services that efficiently utilises the potential of the technology. The
experience for the end user i.e. the consumers be different and result in less latency while browsing,
watching content, use of experiential gadgets like AR/ VR devices.

The increased availability of richer experiential content will provide a boost to the on-boarding of
newer internet users.

58
 ANUBHAV SONTHALIA
CEO, Merkle Sokrati

LEVEL UP FOR THE

INDIAN GAMING INDUSTRY
ON THE HORIZON

59
From what started with a trickle of gaming companies a decade ago, the online gaming industry in
India right now is at an inflection point. With internet penetration and increase in smartphone users, its
market value is expected to increase to 250Bn INR by 2024. And the Indian demographic, with
considerably younger population, is poised to ride the wave. We’re also seeing huge investments made
by giant global players like Tencent, Amazon, Nazara, Alibaba, Electronic Sports in the growing Indian
ecosystem. The digital gaming industry is going through a rapid evolution and below are some
interesting areas where we already see, or we predict some serious action.

REAL MONEY GAMING AND DIGITAL WALLETS

While online gaming is not new to India, what catches my eye is the stellar growth of real-money
gaming (RMG) apps within this industry. While players like Adda52 and RummyCircle have gained
immense popularity, today fantasy games like WinZo and Dream 11 are leading the pack. According to
IFSG-KPMG, RMG’s projected CAGR is ~50% till 2022 while crossing 100mn fantasy gamers just by the
year end. The development of digital payment ecosystem enabling access for everyone is a key growth
driver. It’s become easier than ever to make in-app purchases and win back real cash – which is the core
motivation in many cases.

CONTEXTUAL AND HOME-GROWN CONTENT RISE UP TO THE

CHALLENGE
The Google-KPMG report on gaming reveals that the future regional users of the internet will be 2.5X
more than the entire English user base in India. This, certainly, will inspire the local developers curating

60
 games not only in vernacular languages but also with highly- relatable Indian themes and stories based
on Indian ethos even, like Chota Bheem Speed Racing or Mahabharata: The Dawn of Kaliyuga. One
example that I can site here would be WinZO. This gaming platform has about ~50 “Indian” games like
carrom across 10 regional languages with ~5mn+ install base per year. It is a specimen of leveraging
the huge untapped creative space for the projected ~310mn gamers by 2021 from tier-II and tier-III
cities.

LIVE STREAMING AND INFLUENCER MARKETING

Not to forget, majority of the gamers are seen to be 25 year olds or younger. They are not limited to
playing but also enthusiastically live-stream others playing their favourite games on YouTube or Twitch.
Currently, as you read, there are about 24 gaming channels (and counting...) on YouTube viz-a-viz none
two years back. It could be the gaming counterpart of TikTok. The increase in number of gamers in the
country will directly increase live-streaming phenomenon. Like favourite movie stars, we will have
favourite gamers – nothing short of celebrities. And brands will be enticed to join in. I see this as an
evolution of influencer marketing in India. As a cue for this trend to come, it’ll be interesting to see
how the partnership between LivePools, an online fantasy Indian gaming company and the
world-famous Instagram influencer Dan Bilzerian moves forward.

NEWER TECHNOLOGIES MAKING GAMING EXPERIENCES BETTER

Online gaming, playing or watching, is driven by fast internet and seamless technology. Just a decade
ago, 2G was all we had, and we could not imagine listening songs online, let alone binge watch movies
or shows. But today, boosted by industry heavyweights like Google and Microsoft for instance, cloud
gaming and voice gaming is where the gaming trajectory is heading towards. And don’t leave behind
gaming and Smart TV integrations. Just last year, Nazara Technologies forged an alliance with Amazon
to provide localised Indian gaming experience on Fire TV including the flagship title ‘Chhota Bheem
Speed Racing’. Expect the same transition as what we have seen with OTT and music streaming.
Strategic and Tech partnerships in gaming will remind you of attempts by OTT players to build
stickiness with users e.g. Netflix Specials, Hotstar Exclusives.

And this will have ripple effects on industries that have nothing to do with gaming. I have two words
for you - Personalised Gamification. We’ve already seen this with Zomato IPL winner prediction, Jio
KBC, Hotstar’s Watch and Play Contest, Color Premier League and MakeMyTrip’s Quiz games to get a
free trip. All brands and marketers will continue to find novel approaches to leverage game mechanics
(gamification) for increasing user engagement. It will be interesting to see how the gaming industry
fares with regards to its projections, or even surpass it – but one thing cannot be denied – this industry
is ripe for disruption.

61
62
 E-COMMERCE
2020

CO-POWERED BY

CO-GOLD PARTNER DIGITAL PARTNER

ADVERTISING
WHY BRANDS FLOCK TO E-COMMERCE
PLATFORMS IN INDIA
E-commerce is so deeply entrenched in the lifestyle of people that we often wonder what we did when
we could not buy goods and services online.

Globally e-commerce has already begun creating a significant dent into the ad revenue share of search,
video and social advertising companies. E-commerce players in the US and China form some of the top
digital companies in those economies and this trend is replaying in India too where e-commerce is now
amongst the top digital advertising touch-points for brands.

A whopping 190 million (nearly 35% of India’s total Internet user population of 550 million recorded in
2019) are already online buyers and an even larger number browse products online. While this number
is significant, the scope for further growth in the buzzing e-commerce industry where revenue grows at
an annual rate of 51% is truly astounding. India is at Number 2 spot among countries with the highest
number of Internet users, and according to projections, India’s e-commerce user base will rise to
approximately 300 million by 2023 (Source: eMarketer), which would put it in the same bracket as the
current population of the United States. So, what does this customer base translate into?

THE VIRTUOUS MARKETPLACE CYCLE

Customers in e-commerce marketplaces are part of a self-reinforcing positive feedback cycle. More
customers attract more brands and sellers, looking to capture a slice of the larger pie. Brands/sellers in
turn list more and more products online and in some cases, even create exclusively online products,
giving more choice to buyers, which in turn brings more consumers. Aided by the booming smart-
phone penetration and cheap Internet in India, e-commerce has flourished with this virtuous cycle
building on the pillars of accessibility and affordability.
r sales poten
ghe tia
Hi l
Indian e-commerce customers are truly
heterogeneous, and consumers are driven
online irrespective of their affluence level. MORE
Therefore, most brands have seen the MORE BRANDS
CUSTOMERS AND
benefits of selling online, with several SELLERS
modifying their business models to
prioritize e-commerce over offline retail.
W id
e r S ele ctio n

63
THE OTHER BENEFITS
Brands have realized that there is another big advantage about reaching out to customers on
e-commerce platforms - their customer base is so large already, that users of the biggest e-commerce
platform in the country would easily outnumber the readership of India’s most popular newspaper. This
base of millions of customers at one destination makes e-commerce platforms among the most
coveted and relevant spaces to advertise on; with unique benefit to both customers and brands. For
customers, the methods of product discovery are four-fold:

Search Merchandising
Product searches by the user Creatives used on the platform driving
traffic to product listing page

Recommendations Advertising
System generated recommendations E-commerce advertising formats blend seamlessly
based on user activity with merchandising experience resulting in
uniquely minimal yet rich customer experience

Apart from the massive reach, the advantages of advertising on e-commerce platforms for brands are
multifold. Firstly, advertisements are shown in an environment where the experience ensures that the
customer is receptive towards them. Secondly, the ability of these platforms to deliver conversion from
impressions to sales is high. Even more important is the intent of the customer on these platforms -
they are always looking to buy, and this intent translates into rich consumer insights, and further into
the scope for brands to target based on intent shown through actions on the platform, like browsing,
searching, wish-listing, etc.

64
 FROM INTENT TO AD DELIVERY

Innovations in the e-commerce ad tech space have ensured that the ability to target based on
intent, clubbed with other demographic and monetary signals, are further empowered by
interesting ad formats online.

On-site: Native ad formats on e-commerce platforms are used by endemic brands to drive
their business objectives ranging from visibility to performance. Advertisements during
product launches and sales use super-high visibility products to drive awareness and
consideration, while brands ensure sustenance through performance products focused on
delivering ROI. For example, all major smartphone brands purchase high impact banners on
home pages for their new product launches.

Non-endemic brands use signals from the platform to identify spending propensity and use it
as a proxy to drive their own business objectives. Sellers on the marketplace use search-based
products to ensure higher visibility for their products without sacrificing high ROI.

Off-site: The targeting capabilities of e-commerce can also be leveraged by both endemic
and non-endemic brands on other platforms to create differentiated engagement for
customers. For instance, Flipkart’s shopper audience network enables brands to serve video
ads on Hotstar to customers targeted using Flipkart’s insights while ensuring that customer
privacy is protected.

Evolving engagement: Thriving ad businesses on e-commerce have turned to new avenues of

engagement with customers, through formats like games and videos. These serve to increase
the time spent on the platform and loyalty towards it. Innovative ad formats have been
developed to serve brand objectives closer to the awareness side of the purchase funnel.
Leading the industry, Flipkart launched Flipkart videos, its ad-supported OTT platform, housed
inside the Flipkart app, to provide quality content for customers at zero cost.

65
With the growth of e-commerce and the emergence of e-commerce giants within the online
ecosystem, digital has been seeing a shift to superior advertising solutions.

At the end of 2019, the advertising spends on e-commerce platforms were estimated to be Rs 2,100
crore, with Flipkart taking the dominant share, followed by others. Based on its current trajectory of
growth, this spend pool is expected to grow at a CAGR of 44% to reach Rs 18,700 crore by 2025.

GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE ADVERTISING (INR CR)

18,700

R
G
CA
4 %
4

2,100

2019 2025f

66
 SUCCESS
STORIES WITH
FLIPKART ADS

Intel partnered with Flipkart to solve an unconventional targeting problem. To reach customers who
were most likely to buy laptops, they wanted to identify customer cohorts that did not own personal
computers. The set of customers who accessed the Internet only through their mobile phones was
taken as a proxy for this. Flipkart and Intel needed to ensure that the customers they reached out to
were mobile-only not just on Flipkart, but on other key online destinations as well.

Flipkart started off with the set of all users who had accessed the platform only through their mobile
phones. Flipkart’s audience intelligence suggested that historically 95% of customers made at least one
purchase on the platform before purchasing a laptop. Hence, customers without a purchase history
were removed from the audience. Further, customers who purchased computer accessories online were
eliminated from the data set. Through a truly unique targeting innovation, this audience was
cross-verified with a popular social media platform to ensure that none of these customers had
accessed social media from personal computers either.

A 360-degree digital advertising campaign was served to the target audience through a well-rounded
mix of in-house and third-party platforms, registering 12 million impressions and achieving 1.5X of
expected sales.

360° 12 M 1.5X
DIGITAL ADVERTISING IMPRESSIONS SALES
CAMPAIGN REGISTERED ACHIEVED

After exceeding the target in just a week, Intel decided to invest further for a second phase of the
campaign to break their own record!

67
68
 GURJOT SHAH SINGH
Sr.VP & National Media Head,
Dentsu Webchutney

THE NEXT LEAP WITH

ECOMMERCE ADVERTISING

69
By the end of 2019, Rs. 2,100 crore has been the The two types of advertisers on ecommerce
overall advertising expenditure on e-commerce today are those who sell products on the site,
platforms. and those who don’t. As brands see more and
more engagement for their category on an
Though as a market we are yet to checkmark ecommerce platform, there are brands who are
several boxes to complete the digital revolution, not traditionally known to sell on these
advertisers are increasingly becoming aware of platforms. While a car is not sold on Flipkart or
the potential of ecommerce platforms and are on Amazon, there have been cases where entire
investing a significant part of their digital vehicle bookings were driven by ecommerce
marketing budgets. sites. Then there are some categories, which look
Ecommerce marketing has become one of the at advertising within the ecommerce ecosystem
strong performance marketing engines, to make their product more visible to the buyer
leveraging the audience’s inclination to purchase who is already searching through the category.
or consideration to purchase. With this rapidly These include brands offerings services and even
growing potential, ecommerce advertising is set BFSI, which have started spending on
to grow with a CAGR of 44% in the next five ecommerce and leveraging the click-out models
years. for focused targeted visibility for brands. This is

70
 further fuelling the spends on ecommerce on Amazon. For example, Amazon knows that if
platforms and in next five years should account a certain person has bought international
for a much larger proportion of digital spends, travel-related products, then a bank might want
close to 32% estimating over Rs 18,700 cores to sell him a Forex Card, but it can’t be sold on
annually by 2025. Amazon, so he has to be directed to the bank’s
website.
Talking more about spenders, fashion is a huge
category on e-commerce, but fashion on Flipkart, on the other hand, has joined hands
e-commerce as a proportion of all fashion sales with Hotstar to come up with ‘Shopper Audience
in India is minuscule. Likewise, in beauty Network’ where if you have added a Nikon
products, even now brick and mortar stores camera to your cart, but didn’t buy it before
account for a much larger proportion of sales. moving on to Hotstar, you will see innovative ads
while you are watching content on it. So if you
Also early signals have been observed for are watching Koffee with Karan, you may see an
ecommerce platforms, influencing the offline ad which says, why not click a photo with your
purchase decision. A joint study conducted by favourite celebrities using a Nikon camera.
ComScore and Amazon early in 2019 indicated
that 62% of electronic appliances and 60% of As social media sites, search engines and
fashion products purchased offline were e-commerce sites compete for a bigger share of
influenced by Amazon. With the sales attribution the advertiser spends, some say the distinction is
models getting better, we are not far from clear with Google and Facebook being better at
measuring offline sales driven via ecommerce brand-building while e-commerce sites continue
channels. to rule the performance marketing game. Others
opine that it is hardly that simple, since
On the platform side, both Amazon and Flipkart ecommerce players like Amazon and Flipkart still
together control 90% of the e-commerce market have a long way to go to catch up with the
in India, whereas Snapdeal, Shopclues, Tata Cliq, search and social media giants in the Indian
Paytm, etc. account for the remaining share, as advertising game.
per analysis by multiple industry experts.

In addition to AMS, Click-out is Amazon’s other

advertising model through which a person exits
the e-commerce website and lands on a brand’s
page by clicking on an ad. Such ads are also the
most relevant for products which are not listed

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72
 CONTENT
EVOLUTION:
VIDEO &
VERNACULAR
With the increased adoption of 5G technologies, content needs to be increasingly made available in
the local Indian languages to enable on-boarding of the newer set of Internet users. Importance of
local language content is also being realized by content creators. Popular video viewing platforms viz.
YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix etc. have adopted this localized route. YouTube currently offers its
services in eight local languages with Hindi being the most popular local language amongst others.

The trend of on-demand content has been on a rise with the digital media eco-system moving towards
a more choice-based 'pull' environment with consumers being unwilling to accept content pushed
upon them. The increasing penetration of rich and localized digital content is creating huge
opportunities for marketers to interact with the consumer in newer ways than before. In this wake,
brands need to enhance experiences with the products and services which create a social value rather
than just simple consumption.

73
74
 THE GROWTH
OF OTT
2019, was the year that saw quite a few OTT players pivoting from users’ numbers to engagement as an
active unit of measurement. The move, chiefly led by Viacom18 owned OTT service VOOT, set out to cross
the 100 million MAU mark with 100 billion minutes of watch time in a year. Within the year, the platform
crossed these dual milestones on the back of 4 major drivers.

DRIVING LOYALTY AND ENGAGEMENT

Focusing on the metrics that matter -Watch time and DAU/MAU ratio. Voot's focus has been to
continuously engage with the consumer through different touch-points like the app, content or even a
simple promotional communication.

Most Engaged OTT platform – Voot was the most engaged platform (DAU to MAU ratio) from Oct to
Dec 2019, as per the App Annie data; and this resulted in Voot to cross 100 Bn Watch time in minutes
on their app within a single FY.

Basis the TSV per day and the DAU to MAU ratio, VOOT is now the number 1 in the premium AVoD
category. In fact it’s monthly watch time is more than the combined watch time of its next two
competitors, per App Annie.

INNOVATION ON NEW IPS & CONTENT

Voot Studio - Voot Studio was launched in the first quarter of last FY with an objective to produce
innovative Video Solutions for their advertisers. Most of their clients wanted to drive love for their
brand. It is now becoming a hub of such content. ‘Work it Up’ helped Tik-Tok achieve this objective
and the show was ranked in the top 11 shows to be watched on OTT. While ‘Cheat weak at Singapore’
did the magic for Singapore Tourism. In fact, VootStudio is now driving more than 10% oftheirrevenue.

Shows around show – Voot night live is a first of its kind show that was built around a reality show.
On the back of VNL and other content such as Unseen, Undekha,Bigg Buzz and a very successful
#AsliFanmarketing campaign, Bigg Boss season 13 got 1Bn views.

Regional is the new National – This year saw a massive growth of Vernacular content with views
increasing by 4X on a yearly basis. Marathi was the dark horse that grew by 4X, while Kannada
continued to show steady growth. Voot also launched Colors Telugu, India’s first digital-only channel.
Also, Tamil grew on the back of the marquee shows such as KBC Tamil.

75
MAKING VOOT’S PRODUCT AND
TECH READY FOR FUTURE
Launched the new version of Voot V3 -The new app enhanced User experience with state of art
personalized recommendation and an intriguing architecture that facilitated better discoverability for all
Voot consumers

Rugged and Robust – The new app workedseamlessly across platforms right from 2G/3G phones of
‘Bottom of pyramid’ viewers to Smart TVs catering to premium audience. It was capable of handling
really complex & interesting Second Screen and Interactivity requirements.

Bringing the Tech in-house – The year saw VOOT accelerating it’s pace of building an in-house tech
team based out of Bangalore.

VOOT PARTNERSHIP ECO-SYSTEM

Reach consumer anywhere - One of the key drivers of reach through the year was the building of the
most diverse and inclusive partner ecosystem that ensured an omnichannel and multiscreen presence
for VOOT.

Wider Distribution - Seamless and wide distribution through partnering with best in class brands
across categories like connected TVs, Devices, Telcos, Travel, Broadband, etc with names like Sony, LG,
Samsung, Flipkart, Ola, MX Player and Airtel joining the new bandwagon have ensured the last mile
availability of VOOT.

And at the last but not the least about Voot.

While we enter the decade with a century (100 Mn MAUs and 100 Bn minutes of watch time), Voot is pretty
confident that it is going to be India’s first profitable OTT platforms. And it is happening much sooner than
anticipated.

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 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
The findings presented in the report have been arrived at through primary and secondary research.

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Interviews were conducted with advertisers across industry verticals, media agen-
cies, online publishers and ad networks to understand their advertising investments across media, along
with other focus areas in digital media.

SECONDARY RESEARCH: Secondary research was done to identify the market structure and dynamics of
the digital ad market in India. Information was collected from various external and internal sources, and
analyzed thoroughly for validating the primary data.

Consumer Behavior Data: CCS Benchmark Study 2019

TEAM BEHIND THE REPORT:

Dentsu Aegis Network, India | Exchange4Media | Carat India | Isobar India | iProspect India
Fractal Ink | WebCutney | SVG Media | Merkle Sokrati | Amnet | Amplifi India | WATConsult

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Vivek Bhargava, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Performance Group
Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD Isobar, South Asia
Siddharth Rao, Chairman, Dentsu Webchutney and Happy mcgarrybowen
Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India
Anubhav Sonthalia, CEO, Merkle Sokrati
Heeru Dingra, CEO, WATConsult
Tanay Kumar, CEO, Fractal Ink
Lalit Bhagia, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Consult
Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network
Thapas Joseph, President, Fountainhead Digital MKTG
Sujata Dwibedy, EVP, Amplifi India
Gopa Kumar, COO, Isobar
Gurjot Singh Shah, Sr.VP & National Media Head, Dentsu WebChutney

REPORT - Research, Compilation, Design and Launch:

Abheek Biswas, AVP, Consumer Insights, WATConsult
Prabhupreet Singh Ahuja, Research Executive, WATConsult

Sabir Solkar, Senior Creative Director, iProspect India

Rizwan Shaikh, Associate Creative Director, iProspect India
Omkar Eknath Sawant, Designer, iProspect India

Siddharth Karnawat - Vice President, CS and Strategy, Fountainhead MKTG

Rohan Ferreira - Sr. Creative Producer, Fountainhead MKTG

77
ASSOCIATE PARTNER CO-PARTNERS DELEGATE BAG PARTNER

TRADE MEDIA PARTNERS MUSIC COMMUNITY BUSINESS MEDIA

PARTNER PARTNER

DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK