Digital Driving Growth: V Ramachandran, V-Guard

India, one of the biggest media consumption markets in the world, is witnessing disruptive changes in the mass media consumption landscape. From generations fed on traditional media like TV, newspapers & radio, there is an increasing shift towards the new-age digital media as one of the youngest demography on the planet has redefined the way media is getting consumed today. Indian consumers are now moving away from appointment-based viewing schedules to viewing content anytime, anywhere and on any screen. Together, the smartphone and cheap mobile internet access have reshaped the media landscape in India with consumption shifting towards ‘digital – first’ experiences

With the pandemic having upended media consumption in India, digital has become mainstream and is now driving growth in mass media consumption in the country. Mass media played a significant role as the world came to a near standstill owing to the pandemic. 

Year Of Digital

Delving into the many facets of digital media today, V Ramachandran, Director & COO, V-Guard talks about how this ‘digital’ shift is more profound in the younger generation, which has migrated to digital platforms for news and entertainment content, skipping the traditional TV in the process. "For every television set in a middle-class home, there are on average four mobile phones consuming varying amounts of high-speed data. Content consumption in Indian homes has shifted away from ‘family-viewing’ to ‘individual, anytime viewing’," he says.

While the traditional mass media continues to exist, the growth rates are significantly slower and lower as compared to digital-first experiences. "Even though digital has been the fastest growing media platform over the last 2 years, the pandemic has further accelerated this growth. Industry estimates that India is likely to be home to a billion digital users by 2030," he shares. 

With mobile penetration increasing steadily and connectivity becoming more and more affordable, OTT content has been eating into traditional mass media’s market share steadily. Pandemic has persuaded many to pay for the content they consume. As per a recent CII-BCG report, subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) saw a 55-60% year-on-year growth in 2020. This growth trend is expected to be sticky due to the proliferation of platforms and high quality original and local content now available to consumers at their fingertips. This is likely to have long term implications on the balance of power between traditional media and emerging/digital media.

"For engaging storytelling, the TV will continue to be the medium of choice and brands will continue to leverage this medium for brand building. Having said that, Connected TV is simply becoming the new TV. It is the way large segments of consumers will access premium content. As consumers spend more time watching connected TVs, brands will need to find ways to engage with these consumers through immersive storytelling and targeting with programmatic and digital advertising. Print and other traditional media like radio will need to find newer alternatives to become relevant to the digitally native consumer," he emphasises. 

For Ramachandran, stepping into the future omnichannel consumer engagement will be the order of the day. Brands will need to find a way to navigate and reach consumers who will travel multiple platforms in their consumption journey. 

Impact On Investment

The pandemic disrupted the business environment with uncertainty about consumer’s ability to spend and discerning consumption patterns. The supply chain disruption ensured that the uncertainty prevailed. This, in turn, forced many brands including V-Guard to squeeze their media investments.

"The explosion of digital media has ensured that consumers have unprecedented choices for media consumption. This has in turn resulted in a fragmented media landscape with disparate channels & audiences across them, which makes it challenging for brands to optimise media investments across the media channels thereby impacting media investments. A challenge exacerbated by the proprietary metrics of each channel. There will be an increased focus on measuring return on investment (ROI) across different media, devices and platforms to drive positive outcomes for the brand," marks Ramachandran.

In tandem with changing consumer landscape, the company is increasingly focusing on their content marketing, as well as tapping new retail-marketing activities that entail a significant share of their marketing spending. 

For V-Guard, investments will continue to focus on product and category and flagship products (built on innovation) that will drive the brand agenda.

Trends To Look Out For

Giving us a sense of the market sentiment in the coming times, Ramachandran points some of the paradigm trends that will bring about new sets of behaviours and patterns amongst all stakeholders:

Consumer behavioural change: Consumer experience has stretched beyond vanilla mobility and convenience. They seek to express themselves and are not satisfied with passive experiences. The 5-inch screen is an extension of themselves where they seek to express their opinions and live the moment with friends and family. Online viewing is becoming both an immersive and a social experience

Fragmented media landscape: The proliferation of digital media has enabled multiple media touchpoints for brands to connect with consumers. In such a fragmented media environment, reaching the right consumer – during their duration with a particular media channel (and platform or service) will require sharper cross-channel targeting and stronger, deeper consumer profiling

Connected commerce: E-commerce platforms have become an indispensable digital channel to reach target audiences and influence sales. Marketers will need to mirror DTC brands – embracing emerging technologies, deeper customer service and adaptive messaging to get closer to their consumers

Digital marketing infrastructure: Brands will look to invest in building a robust Martech platform that will increasingly amplify consumer engagement & bring more data centricity. With the evolution of Martech, brands can leverage increasingly sophisticated data techniques to understand shoppers’ preferences across channels and devices. This in turn is leading to the personalisation of communication to consumers