Consider this: India has the largest youth population (age 10-24 years) in the world (UN Report, 2014). In 2020, the average age of the Indian population will be 29 years, as compared to 39 in China and 47 in Japan. Furthermore, 41 per cent of the country’s population is below the age of 20.
Why are these statistics important? Because they all point to one important truth as far as media trends are concerned.
The youth in India are fast-growing media consumers. Not only do corporates target them, but a lot of products that the entertainment and sports industry sell are also targeted at this demographic. Given this, most of the advertising in India needs to take place in a way that appeals to this part of the population.
Television is dead
There are many traditional forms of advertising, such as television, print, radio, outdoor (billboards), etc., and there are several advantages of using these — it is easier measure their effectiveness and it also easier to find agencies that have long experience in dealing with this kind of advertising, etc. But despite these reasons, traditional forms of advertising are rapidly losing sheen among youth.
The youth spend more time on the internet today, than watching television or listening to the radio and thus, the credibility of television as a medium to sell products is taking a beating. These days, consumers are more wary to buy things that are being promoted through such mass media. Additionally, with the advent of smartphones and mobile applications becoming a part of our daily lives, most of the entertainment that was earlier available through traditional media is now being streamed through these handheld devices.
New media
When was the last time you read the paperback edition of a non-fiction book? I recently bought the Kindle version of a management book because itwas cheaper than the paperback. Many B-Schools have also started using iPadsas a part of their curriculum. Even at the primary and secondary school levels, subject outlines and syllabuses are provided in downloadable e- formats. All these show that youngsters are fast embracing the digital version across options.
Digital advertising is growing fast and India is likely to lead the pack. Digital media includes the likes of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Google, among others. Advertising on these platforms may take several formats and they can be crawlers, banners, blurbs or informercials. Each format requires a different form of creativity and marketers will need to decide the media expenditure.
The first question would be the amount of money spent on digital advertising versus the amount spent on traditional forms of advertising. While benchmarks are not available, there has to be a substantial increase towards digital advertising. Second, the digital advertisements have to get more creative. The target demographic, which is the youth, tends to get bored easily and digital advertisements need to address this. Third, and final, would be being comfortable with the uncertainty in the measurement of the digital advertisement’s effectiveness. One must remember that since the digital platforms may not have prior norms, it is tough to arrive at metrics for evaluation and companies need to be okay with this.
All in all, digital advertising is a new but fast growing space in media today. Not only does it require a different skill-set, but also a different mindset to be able to be successful in this.