Mumbai: mediasmart, an Affle company, is a unified programmatic platform which provides advertisers, trading desks, and agencies ways to integrate consumer journeys across screens. Unique strengths such as omnichannel audience management & incremental measurement together with measurable and high-impact CTV advertising (through its proprietary Household Sync technology), make mediasmart the platform of choice for marketers looking for an intuitive and powerful programmatic solution, whether they choose to use mediasmart’s console or build their own solutions on top of its open APIs.
Nikhil Kumar is a consumer marketing professional with over a decade of experience working in FMCG, retail, F&B & ad-tech set-ups with global brands like Puma, L’Oreal, Cafe Coffee Day and recently Bytedance & InMobi. With a career spanning over 14 years – Nikhil has worked across multiple functions with his domain expertise primarily being brand marketing (digital & offline), business strategy/ sales & go-to market plan/ execution across consumer goods, retail & startup eco system. He currently leads the business of India & Southeast Asia for mediasmart, an Affle company.
Today with many tools available for a marketer to explore the various platforms when it comes to brand messaging. The festive season and the ICC World Cup is upon us. Indiantelevision.com spoke to mediasmart – vice president, India & SEA Nikhil Kumar on how brands are allocating their spends, also which are the brands which get a traction during the festive period and how much of the ad spends are spent on digital…
Edited Excerpts:
On the challenges and opportunities arising when two major events, such as the ICC World Cup and the festive season, coincide in the advertising landscape
Cricket is a revered event in India, highly anticipated and watched by a majority of the audience. A marquee cricket event like the World Cup is akin to a festive season in itself as cricket fans globally wait for it. Consumer spending typically picks up for eCommerce/offline retail during the festive months from Oct-Dec and this year with the cricket world cup coinciding, we anticipate this is only going to get bigger! Advertising pundits already anticipate a cracker of cricket and festive season with bigger eyeballs for CTV and mobile. We also anticipate more visibility for DOOH screens that can lead to higher footfalls for in-store purchase or action on mobile. This is an unprecedented opportunity to hit it out of the park with the right advertising campaigns to capture the hearts and wallets of a captive audience ready to spend big.
On the anticipation of sectors that drive the higher ad expenditure during the festive season, especially this year and the reason behind it
Festive period is a time for celebrations and usually translates into bigger purchases centered around this period, whether that is traveling, shopping, buying consumer goods and automotives. This translates into large spends in general coming from high-growth industry verticals like automotive, eCommerce, fintech, FMCG, foodtech, gaming, healthtech & hospitality, and more, which are also a focus for us from a growth perspective.
Post-pandemic, the surge in online commerce has shifted spending habits, boosting digitally native app advertisers’ confidence. With the convenience of online shopping and smartphone prevalence, they are expected to allocate substantial budgets for festive advertising. Additionally, with the festive season coinciding with the cricket World Cup, advertisers on fantasy gaming apps have an opportunity to capitalize on cricket enthusiasm. The convergence of festivities and sport makes for an exciting time for brands to spend big, no matter where they are or who they are!
On an estimate of the total ad spend expected during the cricket and festive season in 2023, and its comparison to the overall annual ad spending
Digital advertising in India continues to grow and there’s a positive outlook for this year as well among industry watchers. Historically, this quarter is poised to be the highest spending quarter. Advertising pundits are already betting big for the months of Oct-Dec and expect advertising spends to increase by 30-35% on the back of increased consumer spending on categories like eCommerce, FMCG, Automotive, BFSI, and Retail. Cricket world cup will also attract additional spending power of cricket gaming giants which have been key sponsors/advertisers of marquee Indian cricket events in recent times. The combined influence of heightened consumer spending and the celebratory atmosphere is a recipe for successful ad campaigns
On cricket contributing to the majority of ad spending in the sports-related advertising sector
Cricket has always caught the fancy of advertisers in India and even in the era of sports events being only broadcast via linear television, brands would flock to get prime real-estate on television. Now, cricket has only gotten bigger and is consumed over television via linear feed as well as on digital feed on CTVs via OTTs. In addition to this, the multiple other screens like OTT mobile apps also contribute to the increased consumption, making advertisers innovate advertising methods across digital platforms.
Interestingly, sports-related advertising for cricket season is today no longer limited to bilateral series. With IPL’s foray on digital platforms, first with Hotstar and then on JioCinema, the advertising opportunities have only gotten bigger. Advertisers on both sides on linear and digital platforms enjoyed premium audiences and ad slots as overall viewership increased.
On digital advertising expectation to receive higher ad spends compared to television during the festive period
Consumption habits post-pandemic have transformed in favor of digital platforms/channels. While digital continues to grow bigger and get a dominant share of wallets from brands, to say that it will receive higher spends compared to television is a prediction which may or may not come true. However, we are certain that digital consumption continues to accelerate and one of the reasons why you see the growth and rise of CTV, a new-age digital medium, is the overall shift from linear TV to CTV, increased viewership of OTT apps on CTV, increased content consumption on mobile devices, and has led to a significant growth in advertising in digital channels like CTV. Advertisers globally – and in India – are lapping up the CTV opportunity and we have seen great results and ROI for some of our top clients in India who are already using the CTV advertising with us.
Interestingly, festive season is all about families coming together and that rings true for CTV viewing as well dominated by co-viewing by families, bringing people back to their living rooms. The audience on CTV is spread across genres and apps, giving advertisers a unique opportunity to target individuals across demographics. In addition to this, with consumer journeys getting integrated across screens, digital advertising on CTV allows advertisers to target people in the same household, as well as drive users to take action on mobile or lead them to purchase in-store. These solutions make digital advertising on CTV attractive for advertisers especially during key moments like festive season.
