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  • Digital ad investment will surpass TV in five more countries: GroupM’s Interaction 2017

    MUMBAI: GroupM has published Interaction 2017, a state of the union assessment of digital advertising worldwide with forecasts on technology developments, media marketplace trends and evolving consumer behaviors informed by experts from WPP’s worldwide network of communications, marketing and data companies. 

    The report offers in-depth insights underpinning digital advertising growth forecasts in 46 markets. Topics covered include ad fraud and marketplace integrity, fake news, privacy, ad blocking, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, video competition across platforms, live video, advanced television, streaming and on-demand audio, and much more.  In the report, GroupM’s global chief digital officer Rob Norman and Futures Director Adam Smith, also share views on media pricing, the consolidation of economic value in media among a small group of companies, and media consumption and ecommerce trends.

    As reported in its “This Year, Next Year,” worldwide media and marketing forecast, GroupM predicts that digital advertising will capture 77 cents of every new ad dollar in 2017; TV will capture 17 cents. Despite challenges around standards, measurement and supply chain integrity, digital advertising continues to grow rapidly as marketers follow consumers to the media destinations where they spend their time, and increasingly transact for goods and services. Digital investment has already surpassed TV in ten markets* and another five will cross this bar in 2017 (France, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong and Taiwan), GroupM predicts.

    As the competition for consumer attention and advertiser investment escalates, people worldwide are spending more time with media. On a population-weighted average, the overall time spent with media (the ‘media day’) grew by nine minutes to eight hours in 2016, but time spent with online media grew by 14 minutes. This is attributable to the greater access to media that mobile technologies provide. Mobile similarly contributed to the growth of adult internet users to 2.34B in 2016.

    However, GroupM’s data shows that for now, TV is still king with advertisers when global data is aggregated. TV’s share of advertising investment was largely stable at 42% in 2016; GroupM predicts a share decline to 41% in 2017. TV rode a five-year peak share at 44% from 2010-2014, with only minimal share shedding since then.

    Still, linear TV demographics continued shifting in 2016, with the loss of the 16-24 year-old demographic remaining one of its biggest challenges. Though the global population of 16-24 year-olds only decreased 1% 2014-2016, the average “tonnage” of the 16-24 linear TV audience shrank 16%, with some markets reaching numbers closer to 30%. GroupM clarifies that some of this loss is exacerbated by TV’s other big challenge – the inadequate measurement of TV’s total audience across platforms. GroupM continues to advocate measurement improvements to better evaluate television across all devices in markets across the globe. The absence of close substitutes means that for now, those advertisers seeking this young adult TV audience can be willing to bear price inflation in proportion to its rising scarcity.

    In the report, GroupM also examines the coalescing of economic value among six global companies who hold the lion’s share of digital ad spending, with Google and Facebook at the forefront. GroupM notes that these companies have very different business models than the owners of linear TV, and they also attract different advertisers. Advertisers accounting for 90% of TV advertising revenue represent between 30% and 40% of the revenue earned by the digital giants. The other 70% of their revenue comes from a combination of small and local businesses, often ones that trade in digital products or services. This bifurcation among classes of advertisers is subject to change as television becomes more data-fueled and targeted (more like digital) and as video content on digital platforms continues to be enhanced with greater quality (more like TV).

    “Google and Facebook attracted the vast majority of incremental digital ad investment growth in 2016,” said Smith. “In 2017, the industry will be watching closely to see how Snapchat or Amazon may creep into Facebook’s and Google’s value chain, and if the stronghold that ‘BAT’ (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) has in China can expand to international markets.”

    Interaction 2017 also looks at consumer purchase behaviors. In 2016, ecommerce totaled USD 1.874 trillion, globally, fully 20% more than the USD 1.558 trillion logged in 2015. GroupM forecasts 18% growth for ecommerce in 2017, surpassing the two-trillion mark to USD 2.205 trillion.  On average, online shopping per user is projected at USD 869 in 2017. The U.K. remains home to the most active online shoppers, predicted to average USD 4,000 per user in 2017. Combined, Amazon and Alibaba represent more than half of all e-commerce (excluding the travel category).

    “Last year, we were cautious in our estimation of the rate of change, but this year we are less so in the face developments in hardware and software technologies that are advancing us from the information age to the intelligence age,” said Norman. “To help shape our thinking and speculation in this year’s Interaction, we invited more than 20 partners** to discuss AI, augmented and virtual reality, video competition, advanced and data-driven TV, streaming and on-demand audio, the Google/Facebook digital duopoly, live video, ecommerce, marketplace integrity and fake news. The result is both one of the most comprehensive pieces on the state of digital we’ve ever written and also a springboard for marketers to think long and hard about their future. We invite debate that will undoubtedly ensue.”

    (* Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom.)

    {** Amazon, AppNexus, comScore, DoubleClick, eMarketer, ESPN, Facebook, Google, Hulu, IAB, IBM, LinkedIn, NBCU, Pandora, Pinterest, The New York Times, Snapchat, Turner, Twitter, Vox Media, YouTube.}

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  • Voot partners Google to launch VoD PWA

    MUMBAI: Viacom18’s ad-supported OTT service Voot has turned its mobile website into a Progressive Web App (PWA) using features such as add to homescreen and a service worker. PWA allows reliable, fast, and engaging experience for users on mobile web.

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi commented, “In this business both content and technology have equal equity in realizing the potential of our consumer proposition. While content is our domain expertise, to push the envelope in terms of technology, we continuously work with partners from around the world. We are delighted to work closely with Google to launch Voot on the PWA platform. This launch significantly enhances the experience for all Voot users on mobile browsers and we believe this is a big step where users can have an equally rich experience of our service without downloading the app.”

    Voot is available as both a native app and a mobile web app. It offers close to 35000 hours of premium content that includes not only exclusive shows from theViacom18 network channels like Colors and MTV, but also original series created for Voot. It is also the largest online destination for kid’s content under its brand Voot Kids.

    Voot launched its new UI first on mobile web, ahead of desktop web and native app. Within days of launch, the video watch time on mobile web is jumped over 39 per cent and is comparable to that of native apps. The improvements also had a significant positive impact on reducing load times, reducing abandonments, and much better conversions.

    “We have moved the needle very significantly when it comes to user experience on the Mobile Web by adopting PWA,” said Viacom18 Digital Venture product and technology head Rajneel Kumar. Kumar further added, “All the time and effort we’ve spent on technology and UI changes as well as optimizations seem to be showing very positive results. We are going to continue to refine this further and we are confident that we will continue to see significant consumer lift.”

    “We are delighted with the Voot implementation of a Progressive Web App. PWAs are well suited for India, where the mobile web allows publishers to reach a large audience across a highly diverse set of devices and bandwidth. The early numbers on performance are very encouraging, and demonstrate the potential of mobile web media distribution, ” said Google product manager John Pallett.

    Voot PWA includes offline page caching functionality, fast loading, responsive interface and push notifications. The ‘Add to Home Screen’ feature of PWA allows the user to launch the page from their home screen like a native app and a service worker decreases load times. Voot is an early adopter of this technology and it is only a matter of time before PWAs become the new standard for web interactions, just as responsive design has become the norm rather than an exception.

    While 4G services have recently launched, there are many users who access the Internet via 2G and 3G networks, with slow and sometimes expensive data transfer rates. To reduce the data transfer, VOOT has optimized its images specifically for mobile. The site now dynamically serves either JPEG or WebP images depending upon browser capabilities that minimize image data size, resulting into seamless viewing experience.

    These optimizations resulted in a 63 per cent reduction in first-view page load data transfer and an 86 per cent reduction in data transfer for returning visitors. Page loads became five times faster for first-time visitors, and almost seven times faster for returning users.

  • Google, Microsoft and Reliance may help design rlys ad tech

    MUMBAI: Leading global companies such as Google, Microsoft and Reliance may be keen to take part in the Indian Railways project and help design platform screens advertising technology. Railways is putting together a strategy to launch two lakh screens across India, aiming at a revenue Rs 10,000 crore in 10 years, the Times of India reported, for which a tender could be awarded by May this year.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that content on demand on trains and at stations is a sizeable market. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the infotainment market to be around Rs 2,277 crore in three years’ time.

    The Railway Ministry, in a bid to revamp railways, may invite bids for Content on Demand (CoD) and railradio services in April. Services that would be included under the CoD initiative are — movies, TVserials, short videos, kids’ shows and devotional content. The CoD would also include streaming audio such as regional songs, movie songs, and devotional music; and providing electronic newspapers, gaming and educational content. Railways’ bids for app-based cab services will also be invited by May.

    The video, radio, digital music and digital gaming contracts will be for a period of 10 years. The railways is, through these initiatives, expecting revenue of Rs 16,000-20,000 crore in 10 years.

    As per the BCG report, to provide offline content, railways may have to shell out Rs 38,000 per coach. But, the online content will be expensive — for Rs 25 lakh each. Coaches are required to be well equipped to offer content streamed via the internet.

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    Govt may invite bids for railway TV content this month, market pegged at Rs 2.3k cr

     

  • Google reveals BBC nature content for Earth relaunch

    MUMBAI: Google and BBC Worldwide has announced that they have teamed up to offer visitors to the new Google Earth a taste of world-renowned nature programming and storytelling, with a shared desire to inspire audiences to explore and foster a deeper connection with our planet.

    BBC Worldwide, the main commercial arm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, build BBC’s brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation across the world.

    BBC’s natural treasures will take users on their own journey of discovery through over 30 locations across six of the world’s most incredible habitats – islands, deserts, grasslands, mountains, cities and jungles. Natural Treasures sits within the new Voyager feature of Google Earth which launches today. The BBC’s storytelling will enable users to explore through specially curated journeys each featuring a dynamic combination of filmed insights from the BBC’s wildlife producers, stunning imagery and clips from award-winning archive series’ including Life Story, Africa, Planet Earth II and more.

    Following their visit to Natural Treasures, users can discover more about the habitats and more awe-inspiring content about the natural world at bbcearth.com where the British broadcaster’s factual umbrella brand BBC Earth can be found.

    Sitting alongside Natural Treasuresin Voyager arefive video collections from theBBC’s BAFTA-nominated app The Story of Lifefeaturing Sir David Attenborough’s clips.For example,‘Beautiful Birds-of-Paradise’ and ‘The Big Five Beasts of Africa’. For more, audiences can download the free app whichfeatures the largest ever digital release of Sir David Attenborough’s renowned work.

    BBC Worldwide CMO Jackie Lee-Joe said “We’re delighted to be strengthening our decade-long partnership with Google by pursuinga common goal to bring audiences everywhere even closer to our incredible planet. Through this partnership, we’re leveraging BBC Worldwide’s iconic brand and content to deliver audiences a new way to experience the natural world. The BBC has been capturing and sharingthe natural worldfor over 60 years, and nowwe’re further innovating how we tell these stories – we can’t wait for audiences to explore further.”

    In India, BBC Earth nature content is available on Sony BBC Earth, a premium factual entertainment channel recently launched this year.

    Sony BBC Earth is a MSM Worldwide Factual Media is a joint venture between Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) and BBC Worldwide. The channel promises to make the viewers Feel Alive through its offering of mind blowing visuals, never-seen-before content, and positive insightful storytelling. The channel will bring award-winning, premium factual content from the BBC to over 500 million of SPN’s viewers across India, and will feature some of the world’s foremost factual film-makers and extraordinary storytellers, naturalists and science journalists. The channel will air the ratings-buster, Planet Earth II in June.

    Elsewhere in Asia, the BBC Earth channel is available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It is also available on BBC Player in Singapore and Malaysia.

  • Nestlé, Google & Paytm join hands for new Maggi

    MUMBAI: In a first-of-its-kind association, Nestlé India has collaborated with Google and Paytm Mall to roll out an exciting new promotion for the launch of the new variants of Maggi Noodles. Inspired by the regional cuisines, Maggi Masalas of India will cater to distinctive local tastes with signature herbs and spices. The objective of this engagement is to build anticipation and excitement around the new variants, where consumers have to guess the four flavours from the eight options provided.

    Nestlé India CMD Suresh Narayanan says, “At Nestlé we constantly use platforms and technology to deliver differentiated brand experiences. We are confident that our consumers, who have always demonstrated an unconditional love for their favourite Maggi Noodles, will be excited with this association. I am thankful to both our partners, who are leaders in their respective areas, for this association, to provide consumers with a unique and innovative experience that is a win-win for all.”

    This innovative association with Google allows users to key in “Meri Maggi” in the search bar, and be presented with eight options of Maggi Masalas of India variants. The user has to then choose four out of the eight options displayed and submit their vote. Upon submission of vote not only will the user become eligible to participate in the contest to win the Masalas Of India Goodie Box, but can also pre-book, the yet to be launched, Maggi Masalas of India Noodles, exclusively through Paytm and Paytm Mall.

    Google India director – sales Vikas Aghnihotri adds, “Google is always innovating to create unique experiences for users and this innovation is an example of how we can work with organizations to drive engagements at a mass scale.”

    Paytm Mall has created a special Maggi Brand Store to sell the Maggi Masalas of India box from 22 April. The company has also launched a unique campaign – Catch the Maggi Train, in which four new flavor packs will appear as icons forming a train on Paytm and Paytm Mall app. Consumers who will click on the train icons & buy the product will be gratified with exclusive cashbacks on their purchase.

    Paytm Mall vice president Saurabh Vashistha said, “India is a richly diverse country with countless cultures, languages and cuisines. Nestlé has done an excellent job of creating a special range of Masala Noodles drawing inspiration from this culinary diversity and we’re happy to bring this delight to the doorsteps of millions across the country. This is truly aligned with our ideology to build unique products handcrafted in India that acknowledge and celebrate our diversity.”

  • Analytics: Essence establishes hub in India to help data-driven solutions

    MUMBAI: Essence, a global digital agency, has announced the launch of its Global Analytics Hub in Delhi, India. The establishment will focus on campaign analytics for leading global clients. In addition, it will serve as R&D center for work in mobile analytics, machine learning, social data mining and customer analytics.

    The newly opened unit will work closely with the agency’s analytics team in driving innovation and overall operational excellence. Qianqian Wu, global director of the hub, has plans underway to make several key senior hires, and considerably expand the current team in India.

    “Launching the global analytics hub is a step in right direction and it supports Essence’s continued commitment to providing clients with superior, data-driven solutions,” said Wu. “Investment in sound strategic solutions, advanced analytics and cutting-edge technology will be paramount to the success of the initiative.”

    “We recognise the increasing importance of creating innovative and high quality data and technology solutions,” said Essence global head of analytics Anant Mathur. “Opening the hub is critical in driving future readiness and growth for Essence in the analytics space globally, we have carefully chosen India for establishing the global hub given the progressive ecosystem of talent and technology available in India”

    Essence, a global agency that blends data science, objective media and captivating experiences to build valuable connections between brands and consumers, has clients such as Google, FrieslandCampina, Tesco Mobile and the Financial Times.

  • Alibaba’s UC news registers 100m active users, browser has 43% share in India

    MUMBAI: UCWeb, an Alibaba Mobile Business Group company, today announced that its latest product, UC News, has crossed 100 Million Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in India and Indonesia. With 100 million daily article views, UC News has rapidly grown in India & Indonesia market since its launch in June 2016. UCWeb is augmenting its focus on digital content aggregation and distribution in the world’s second largest internet market, India.

    Talking on the latest milestone, Alibaba Mobile Business Group president-overseas business Jack Huang said “We are experiencing a fast rise in the average time spent on UC News. As of this quarter, an average user spends over 23 minutes on UC News. Users are embracing diverse digital content and their appetite for such content is being met by UC News. Going forward, we are also targeting more diversified and localised content on our platform by end of 2017 to make the local content ecosystem stronger. With over 100 million MAUs, UCWeb envisions itself as powerful as Google and Facebook and aims to bring the global mobile internet to an era of ‘GUF’ (Google, UCWeb and Facebook).”

    Leading the user-generated content ecosystem in India, UC News recently announced The We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 for self-publishers, bloggers & independent writers with an initial investment of 50 Million INR. UCWeb is investing 2 Billion INR for driving content distribution in India over the next two years. With the changing mobile internet landscape, UCWeb has adopted a strategy of becoming a content distribution platform from being a browsing tool by engaging and aggregating diverse form of content on its platforms – UC Browser and UC News. UC Browser is now the preferred option for mobile browsing and an ideal platform for accessing different kinds of content.

    In a recently released report, UC Browser has achieved the highest browser market share in India, according to leading web analytics firm StatCounter. UC Browser is now the most popular browser in India in terms of internet usage across all platforms combined (Mobile, Desktop, Tablet, Console) with a market share at 43.31% followed by Chrome at 36.07% and Opera at 8.34%. UC Browser is also the dominant browser for mobile internet in India with over 100 mn Monthly Active Users (as of Sept 2016).

    Indians are amongst the world leaders in terms of internet usage on mobile phones. According to StatCounter, internet usage in India by desktop and tablet fell from 33.2% in January 2016 to 21% this year. Mobile internet usage jumped from 66.8% to 79% over the same time period.

  • Goafest 2017: Carat chief strategist observes data’s great tool, but gut feeling critical

    GOA: As the upside-down slide indicated and exhorted — “see things differently” — Carat global chief strategy officer Sanjay Nazeralli, on Friday, went on to explain why it was important so, and to also focus on the changing perspective, setting the tone for the day.

    “We can’t carry on doing what we have been doing in the past decade. We have to change our perspective on four things — globalisation, convergence, data and innovation,” said Nazeralli, adding that data had indeed helped strategists to get close to the consumers.

    Pointing out that today cross-border e-commerce was worth around ‘USD 25 billion’ representing 10 per cent of total e-commerce, Nazeralli said that, by 2020, it is expected to represent 30 per cent of e-commerce in the world.

    He also spoke about the “transformation” from physical goods to data and information (age of design), highlighting the emphasis on transformation from “capital-intensive to knowledge-intensive culture” and how the digital revolution had impacted the education market (connected education realm is expected to be worth USD 450 billion by 2020).

    He was quick to point out that businesses based on transferring knowledge were “winning over” businesses transferring physical products.

    “17.8, 15.1, 13.7, 10.8 and 9.3. It shows that the numbers are consistently going down and that is the rate of growth of spend in digital advertising. Convergence is changing (everything). India is now going faster than Google,” Nazeralli said, explaining how digital was no longer a screen one goes to, but is omni-present — “it’s everywhere”. He added: “There’s a reverse takeover of life by digital. The dish of the day is data, and this marks the return of marketing.”

    According to Nazeralli, data was the most powerful tool, but it is needed to be seen differently. “We grew up writing copies, not code. Why it (data) does makes us feel down and creatively handcuffed?” he asked.

    Holding forth on innovation, he said that there was a difference between doing things differently and doing things different, and concluded his session with the message: There’s a huge difference between what is true and the truth. And sometimes, gut is more powerful than data.

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  • Goafest 2017: Change is possible when one takes risks, says Patanjali’s Balkrishna

    GOA: Who would have thought that in the advertising and marketing world of suited-booted  and/or casual linen chic people, a simple robe clad guy would turn out to be dude? Well, who would have wagered a few years back that Patanjali would be a starred speaker at India’s annual advertising, media and marketing convention and have a houseful of corporate execs hanging on to every word, some of which were spoken in chaste Hindi? Desh badal raha hai (or, the country is changing), after all, in ways that the countrymen and women are still grappling to come to terms with.

    “The nation is ours, the children are ours, life is ours. We must take care of it ourselves. Always remember, for the world, India is just a market place (but) for us it’s our home. Change is possible only when one is willing to take risks,” Patanjali Ayurveda CEO Acharya Balkrishna said with a straight face, but with a confidence that comes from the realisation that some of the top global FMCG companies were feeling the heat of Patanjali’s unrelenting advertising and marketing blitz.

    The oozing confidence found other outlets too. Without giving a second thought, Balkrishna took on a competitor. “ Patanjali set up a factory in Tejpur in Uttar Pradesh where Dabur too was setting up its factory. In 120 days, Patanjali built up the factory with same workers who were (earlier) working for Dabur,” said the Nepal-born Balkrishna, regarded as the No. 2 in the Patanjali group hierarchy, just next to its yoga guru founder-turned-entrepreneur Baba Ramdev.

    In the FMCG space, some of the Patanjali Ayurveda products that have eaten into the market share of established global and Indian companies include Dant Kanti (toothpaste), atta or flour noodles, multi-grain and plain flour for rotis or Indian bread and Kesh Kanti (hair oil), apart from other categories where Patanjali products are giving a tough competition to the likes of Dabur, ITC, P&G Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever India.

    “Patanjali Ayurved has turned out to be the most disruptive force in the Indian FMCG market…it witnessed a whopping annual growth of 146 per cent in fiscal year 2016 grossing a turnover of US$769 million, whereas its peers, including ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, Colgate–Palmolive and Procter & Gamble struggled to get a growth much less than double digit,” an Assocham-TechSci research report has stated.

    So, what’s the secret of Patanjali in a country that had been dominated by established FMCG players, especially as its founder Ramdev’s antecedents have been questioned at various times?

    Pointing out that the Haridwar-based company doesn’t  follow any marketing strategy, depending more on “product quality” to attract consumers, Balkrishna played with a straight bat on the opening day of Goafest 2017 yesterday: “Treat your customers as your family members and everything (else) will fall into place. We want to change the impression that made-in-India products are not of good quality.”

    If some of these home grown homilies were not enough to rub it in to much-experienced global players, Balkrishna told the audience at Goafest that “duniya ke liye Hindustan ek bazaar ho sakta hai, humare liye Hindustan humara ghar hai” (for the world, India may be a bazaar, but, for us, it’s our home) and change was possible only when one was willing to take risks. Hmm! Hang on, there was more for those willing to listen and the numbers were astounding.

    “Toothpaste is meant to clean teeth, but nowadays ads say you can get a girlfriend using the right (tooth) paste,” Balkrishna said with his tongue firmly in cheek, adding, “humare liye humari maryada sabse badhkar hai, sales na ho toh bhi thik hai” (for us, self-respect and respect for our culture is paramount, and not sales of products).

    However, Balkrishna did not wander into controversial areas where ASCI, in the past, has hauled up Patanjali for misleading advertising or the court cases against it or filed by the company itself relating to product advertsing and claims.

    A fitting tribute to Patanjali’s efforts also came from a competitor. “’Patanjali has shown us marketing methods we never knew,” graciously admitted ITC’s divisional CEO – foods business Hemant Malik, while speaking at another time of the day.

    As a parting shot to urban India — many of whose representatives were at Goa — Patanjali’s Balkrsihna told the gathering that Indians “should eat according to the six seasons because our body changes in every season” as do its requirements. “The problem in India is that people in rural (areas) are healthy, but people in metros have nutritional deficiency,” Balkrishna  explained.

    Other speakers for the opening day included Mobikwik co-founder and director Upasana Taku and ITC’s Malik.

    According to Malik, “Communication is the not the only pillar for branding”  as there are brands such as Facebook, Amazon and Google that have changed the world. “It’s all about the product differentiation. We are the only carbon-positive company in the world,” Malik spoke about the shift from hierarchical collectivist culture to individualistic.

    After being hit by currency demonetisation, where everybody was struggling with liquidity crunches, the mobile payment companies were the one making profit, according to Mobikwik’s Taku, who added, “Humbling and the most fortunate event of 2016  is demonetisation. We have the fortune to have been able to transform India into digital. Mobikwik has 55 million users and 1.4 million retailers in India.”

    Taku highlighted some points. In last 10-20 years, telecom has changed in India in a big way. “Till now 14 per cent of cashless transaction has been done in India post-demonetisation, which will go grow to 30 per cent by the end of 2017 and it will grow 30- 40 per cent in two years. I truly believe it’s the era of mobile wallets, and won’t deny that demonetisation has sped up the journey,” she explained.   

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  • Offline first & good on slow Net: YouTube Go beta launched

    MUMBAI: In last September’s Google for India event, YouTube Go was announced. YouTube app has been reimagined for the next generation of YouTube users. 

    Today, after months of expanded testing and refinement, Google is happy to announce that it’s making the beta version of YouTube Go available for download on the Google Play Store in India.

    Every aspect of YouTube Go was designed from the ground up, with four main principles in mind: It’s relatable, with fresh and relevant video recommendations tailored to your preferences; the app is designed to be offline first and improve the experience of watching videos on a slower network; it gives you more control over data usage, by providing choice and transparency into the amount of data spent on streaming or saving videos. And finally, it’s social, allowing you to share videos quickly and easily with friends nearby.

    Key features of YouTube Go include:

    ●        A home built for you: YouTube Go home screen features trending and popular videos in your area, so that you can find and discover videos that you and your community care about.

    ●        Preview videos before you save or watch: On YouTube Go we’ll show you a preview of the video when you tap on a thumbnail, giving you a better sense of what the video is about before you decide if you want to watch it.

    ●        Choose your resolution when saving or streaming videos: You can choose to save a video for offline viewing later or stream it now. And we also allow you to choose the amount of data you’d like to spend on that video.

    ●        Share videos with friends nearby: Share videos with friends and family nearby without using any data. You can send and receive videos instantly and offline with others using the YouTube Go app.

    To get us to this point, Google has worked hard on refining the features that you’ve inspired us to build, gaining new insights along the way. 

    Some things learned in the run-up to this beta release include making the home screen fresher and more relevant for users, so they can find amazing videos easily. Google has also worked hard behind the scenes to make sharing videos with nearby friends an even more seamless experience, and ensuring that the app works well across a wide range of phones and connectivity. 

    While the app is in its beta release, Google will welcome consumer feedback and improve the app before launching more broadly. We’ll also be holding several activities in Udaipur over the upcoming weeks to glean more insights from users on the ground. If you’re in India, Google hopes one downloads the beta from the Google Play store.
    With the rapid transformation sweeping India’s mobile internet landscape, Google is aware there will be an even greater demand for a fast and accessible video app.