Users Now Expect & Interact With Vernacular Content: Azhar Iqubal, Inshorts

From traditional news format to now digital, users' consumption pattern has transformed drastically in the past few years. According to an annual report by Reuters Institute, India has emerged as one of the strongest mobile focussed markets. About 59% of the respondents, mainly English-speaking online users in India, use television for news while 82% consume news through online platforms, including social media. Inshorts, in this regard, was way ahead of the curve to evaluate this trend and lead the journey of digital news platforms.

In a confab with Azhar Iqubal, CEO & co-founder, Inshorts and CEO & founder, Public App, he expounds how they started their journey with just a Facebook page named 'News in Shorts' that gave readers a quick summary of news stories in 60 words. Fast forward to now, they have more than 10 million+ active users. 

Inshorts is a company that became operationally profitable within 5 years of starting. But, while people were getting their daily dose of national news from various mediums, they saw a gap where locals weren’t getting updates of what was happening in their area. This led to the inception of Public App in 2019, which is a location-based social network to connect the local communities of India. In about two years of its launch, this location-based social network has recorded over 60 million+ active users.

Excerpts:

Q. With newspaper readership falling across the world, has it benefited the online business? What are some of the key digital news consumption trends observed in the last two years?

The world was gradually witnessing digital transformation but the pandemic acted as a catalyst in rapidly making this a reality. Earlier, one had to wait for an entire day to get updated with the in-depth analysis of current affairs. Then came television which gave us a visual and live view of the ongoing stories. Now, one can get updated in the span of just a few minutes by tapping on their devices. Digital platforms have witnessed a significant spike in users during pandemic times. In fact, Inshorts became India’s most trusted news App by Google during COVID-19. For Public app, our user-base doubled from 15 million to 30 million in just 1 month of the pandemic, and the average time-spent by users jumped by 50%.

With fleeting attention spans paired with low data charges and cheaper mobile devices, users now prefer news consumption on their handsets through various social media and short video platform apps. One of the significant trends that we have witnessed in the digital news consumption space is that users now expect and interact with vernacular content. Pandemic has created a need for people to be updated about their localities. This is where Public plays a crucial role. Even for Inshorts, we began as an English news app but in order to cater for a larger audience, we started our Hindi operations.

Q. With traditional media players betting big in this space, how is Inshorts cementing itself?

We, at Inshorts, keep evolving by experimenting and implementing new technological advancements and features on our apps. Our apps are enabled with the industry best AI-driven content personalisation that provides our users content of their interest and a seamless user experience. On Inshorts, one can choose their relevant category and the app then starts showing the content of their choice. 

We also provide brands with exciting and unique digital advertising avenues through various ad formats that yield the best engagement rate. The nature of the advertisements on our apps are non-invasive, skippable and what appears to be a usual story short or card which has very native advertising feel to it. Therefore, we have not only been ahead in the digital media space, but our product also gives our brand an edge over others.

Q. How are companies such as Inshorts actioning upon common challenges such as misinformation, fake news, partiality, etc?

Combating fake news has been a challenge for all social media platforms. In the current digitally evolving world, it becomes even more essential to ensure the information reaching the people is accurate and authentic.

On Public, which is based on a citizen journalism model, it becomes even more crucial to maintain the quality of content. A lot of relevant information is reaching users directly from the authorities themselves and the app has proved instrumental in debunking rumours and fake news which could potentially mislead people. Furthermore, we are verifying every content creator on the platform so that there are no fake accounts.

We use a multi-layered combination of both technology and human interface to ensure that everything going on to the platform is credible and cross-verified. We have strict regulations in place to ensure that both the brand and user data are secure, and privacy is not compromised.

Q. How are brands realising the need for vernacular advertising for hyperlocal reach?

India is known for its sheer diversity and is home to more than 19,500 languages or dialects that are being spoken here. Therefore, regional content in India delivers the real essence of the messaging and creates a deeper impact amongst the users. As per Google India’s report, 88% of Indian language internet users are more likely to respond to a digital advertisement in their local language. Thus, the scope of vernacular advertising is huge and it is only going to increase further. Brands need to be agile and create marketing strategies keeping the regional markets of India in mind.

Brands have now started advertising the same campaign in different vernacular languages and have even reported a better ROI. Even at Public, we are currently focusing on enabling small and local business owners to explore hyperlocal digital advertising on our platform. Additionally, even bigger brands have started running vernacular campaigns that have helped them to achieve a great response. 

Q. How are consumer preferences shifting to snackable content giving rise to video advertising?

Over the past few years, India has witnessed a tremendous shift in the content consumption pattern. Owing to the pandemic, people have started exploring newer digital avenues which have led to a further spike of internet users from tier II and III Indian cities. With numerous options and individuals’ small attention spans, short video platforms are prospering. Brands have gradually realized this and have increasingly shifted their digital campaigns towards short video advertising. According to the latest report released by homegrown consulting firm RedSeer Consulting, short-form content has grown 1.37 times in terms of monthly active users (MAU) and 1.1 times in terms of daily active users from June 2020.

Leading this shift, we at Public provide brands with innovative ad formats supported by cutting-edge technology that enables them to geo-target users through hyper-localised regional content. On our platform brands can advertise in all major Indian languages and target over 60 million+ active users. 

Q. The first lot of online news entities are finally making money. Do you think regulation and the availability of capital will determine their future?

When it comes to regulations, I will quote – With great power, comes great responsibility. 2020 was a high decibel year unlike any for our sector. On one hand, social media apps saw an unprecedented surge in user base, fuelled by the lockdown. On the other, our sector received backlash for the circulation of unverified content. The government has done a commendable job by introducing guidelines and regulations to curb misinformation and create an enabling environment for homegrown apps to thrive responsibly. As per research by Statista Research Department, 77% of respondents across India feel they trust the media. At the same time, there is a far greater responsibility on us to prove that social media apps can serve as credible sources of information in addition to connecting users and communities.

When it comes to the surge in availability of capital, investors around the world are seeing great potential in Indian companies. We have secured three successive rounds of funding for our apps over the past year. We have immense talent and resources in India to make that happen.