Digital activation is the way forward for survival and growth

When it comes to content discovery and engaging the knowledge so gained, an increasing number of women, people from smaller towns and those in the over 35 years age-group are getting digitally influenced. Citing the example of the profound influence on OTT watchers, a survey revealed that 78 per cent of the male respondents said that they use digital to engage with the content. This number is equally high at 77 per cent among women. In a remarkable development, 81 per cent of people from smaller towns use digital for content discovery compared to 74 per cent of their contemporaries in large towns. The survey was conducted jointly recently by the reliable Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Meta.

There is no doubt whatsoever that with the meteoric growth in online content and on-demand streaming platforms in India, the media and entertainment landscape in the country has transformed dramatically over the last few years. The growing digital influence is increasingly driving people’s viewing preferences. This implies the role of digital in discovery, sharing, and engagement both before and after viewing content. Quite significantly, if findings of the survey are pointers, contrary to popular belief, digital discovery is on the upswing, even for linear TV, with its viewers increasingly seeking information and engagement online for the content they watch. This is almost up to 60 per cent. Close to 80 per cent of the research was online across OTT, LTV and movies. That’s not all. The higher digital engagement is correlated with higher watch time on both LTV and OTT.

Interestingly, these figures are not just limited to digital native mediums but across all content. It is also clear that many media companies have not embraced this power to unlock and reap the benefits that are almost assured. One must also keep in mind, in this context that given the high digital influence, digital marketing could be effective across demographics, genres and languages, and could be a crucial addition to the existing efforts at every step of the consumption journey. Media & Entertainment (M&E) players around the world have embraced digital-forward practices to be future-ready. They recognize the power of digital to influence every stage of a consumer’s media consumption journey, ranging from discovery and interest generation to engagement.

However, for all the positives that come after making the move, Indian players are hesitant to embrace digital. Companies across the world have started to believe, quite pragmatically so, that strategic digital activation expands the viewer base and drives top-line growth.

Little wonder therefore that the best-in-class companies, around the globe, are actively engaged in building an ecosystem to design and execute digital activations. Towards this, experts opine that there is an urgent need to rethink and formulate business, content and marketing strategies to accelerate growth. Building a digital-ready organisation is the need of the hour. An early bird can tap the potential, establish a solidified foothold in the industry and smile all the way to the bank.