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Promo code: Brands taking off on digital media first

With the rise in online conversation around a newly launched product or service…

With the rise in online conversation around a newly launched product or service, and a growing Web audience in general, Indian brands are increasingly taking the digital route to air their promos and curtain-raisers before making themselves heard on traditional platforms like television and print.

As per market estimates, Indians currently watch more than five billion videos a month. That?s almost five times the size of our population, says Harikrishnan Pillai, founder of digital agency TheSmallBigIdea. Estimates suggest online video audiences grew 27% in 2014 over the previous year.

That?s reason enough for companies to engage audiences in unique ways on social networking platforms and other online media before taking the initiative forward on to other mediums.

Take, for instance, Epic Television Networks. On Monday, the integrated media company, in which industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Anand Mahindra and Rohit Khattar are primary investors, rolled out a video promo on YouTube to reveal the first look of its Hindi general entertainment channel, Epic. There has been huge curiosity about the channel as it has been positioned as the country?s first channel to exclusively focus on Indian history, folklore and mythology. Ready for launch by the year-end, the channel producers decided to air the curtain-raiser on the Internet in the form of a video instead of releasing big-bang ads in mainstream media.

Similarly, on October 1, Hyundai Motor India launched an online video campaign titled ?Aliens Capture? to promote its SUV variant Santa Fe with an intent to expand its brand outreach through the digital media. The campaign, which shows aliens trying to invade the Santa Fe, but finally getting overpowered to become slaves to humans, has so far been seen by 1.44 million viewers.

Likewise, about a month ago, Nescafe launched the #ItAllStarts campaign on YouTube and garnered 5 million views and counting. The campaign went viral on Facebook and Twitter, giving a big boost to the brand.

There is a growing trend among brands to opt for a ?digital first? strategy wherein they release curtain-raisers or video campaigns online first and later reach out on mainstream platforms. Mahesh Samat, founder and MD of Epic Television Networks, says: ?With today?s growing digital audiences and ?virality? being the key to letting the audience test new offerings, driving our first official promo across digital platforms was the ideal route to take.?

Says Atul Hegde, chief executive officer, Ignitee Digital Services, ?Brands today are seeking amplification of content through social media. When a video commercial is launched on the digital platform, it creates humongous conversations. And when that content is taken on to television, it only helps in taking that momentum forward.?

In July, Ignitee Digital launched the campaign for AskMe app with Ranbir Kapoor, which clocked half a million views on the first day of its launch.

The most interesting aspect of videos for digital media is that they come at a minimal incremental cost. For instance, producing a 10-second advertisement for television costs anywhere between R20 lakh and R50 lakh. But extending a 10-second video into a two- to three-minute film increases the cost only by R4-5 lakh, say insiders. Moreover, videos are longer in duration.

Besides, streaming videos online is also cheaper. The cost of streaming a video across a clutch of social media sites, for instance, costs less than R5 lakh, whereas a 10-second ad aired during prime time on one Hindi general entertainment channel costs anywhere between R70,000 and R1.5 lakh.

?Longer videos are more engaging than TV ads. They can be watched again and again and also shared,? says a digital agency insider.

Sanjay Gupta, senior GM and group head (marketing), Hyundai Motor India, says: ?The audience of digital media is innovative and experimental. Launching a campaign on the digital medium is not as constrained as for TV and it?s cost effective too.?

Online ads also allow companies to gauge audience?s reaction to their communication. ?Based on the audience?s feedback, companies can tweak their commercial before launching it on TV to a wider audience,? says Suhale Kapoor, executive vice-president and co-founder, Absolutdata Research and Analytics.

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First published on: 12-10-2014 at 01:04 IST
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