MAM
Digital the silver lining amid dark ad clouds
MUMBAI: As the industry braces itself for the impending slowdown, there might actually be a sector that is preparing to manage an increased workflow. Digital marketing is expected to maintain its pace or even speed up this year as advertisers look to scale back spends on expensive mediums like print and hoardings.
Experts say there will be no major deviation from Mindshare‘s early year forecast that digital would grow at 30 per cent in 2012, in the same rate as the earlier year.
Maxus, part of WPP group, agrees that digital will not see any specific slowdown this year. “It should grow at 30-31 per cent from the first part of the year trends,” says Maxus South Asia head of digital Unny Radhakrishnan.
In fact, insurance companies like HDFC are looking at increasing their digital spends this year.
Says HDFC Life EVP marketing and direct channels Sanjay Tripathy, “I only see the spends going up because the
whole media pie has been asymmetric all this while. If you look at the reach frequency formula and compare it to TV, print, radio and then digital, you will agree with me. There are more people spending time on digital in comparison to other traditional media touchpoints. I only see the digital percentage increasing in the overall pie.”
With India‘s economy slowing and the bottom line of companies coming under pressure, advertising spends are bound to become increasingly result oriented. This is where digital scores over its media counterparts as it allows for more targeted marketing and better measurable RoI.
Says Brandlogist CEO Saurabh Parmar, “Digital offers clients an ease in measuring RoI and helps target a wider demographic. What is more important is that digital offers an economic advertising to the small and medium-sized businesses that aspire to advertise among the masses but do not have the budgets of TV and print.”
As consumers tighten up their purse strings, they would want to carry out detailed research as well before they arrive at a purchase making decision. The Internet is becoming the research tool of choice for several consumers, offering brands the opportunity to become more visible and interactive.
In the wake of such trends, Parmar feels that the percentage of ad spends dedicated to digital will see a spurt to 11 per cent in 2012, up from 3-5 per cent last year.
While building brands take a backseat in times of slowdown, it is an exercise that can‘t also be neglected.
Admits Mindshare principal partner Jai Lala, “Digital, specifically social media, offers brands a platform to interact with its customers.
This serves a two-pronged benefit of getting feedback and enhancing the brand image by being responsive and interactive. This is one of the main reasons why digital is growing so rapidly.”
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Brands
IPL franchises look beyond reach to monetise fan relationships
Study maps a Rs 45–50 crore annual upside from digital fan ecosystems
MUMBAI: After 18 seasons of relentless growth, the Indian Premier League has become one of the world’s most powerful sporting brands. Its franchises, however, are being told that reach alone is no longer enough.
A new analysis argues that the next phase of IPL franchise economics will be defined by how effectively teams convert broadcast audiences into long-term, owned fan relationships. The shift, it says, is from mass visibility to structured digital ecosystems that treat fandom as a compounding asset rather than a seasonal spike.
The central idea is simple: broadcast reach should be seen as the top of a longer value funnel. Digital engagement, in this model, is not a marketing afterthought but a system designed to turn anonymous viewers into known, monetisable users. Franchises that offer distinctive, personalised experiences can unlock direct revenues from fans and indirect gains through richer sponsorship propositions.
The study suggests that future media rights cycles will increasingly focus on yield per fan rather than raw viewership, reflecting a move from passive consumption to active participation. This places pressure on franchises to invest in digital infrastructure that goes beyond scale and focuses instead on repeatable outcomes: registrations, behavioural insight and personalised activation across platforms.
First-party fan data sits at the heart of this strategy. When identity, preferences, engagement history and transaction signals are unified and operationalised, franchises can segment audiences more precisely, improve retention and lift lifetime value. Without such a digital engine, fan monetisation remains episodic and hard to scale.
Done well, the report estimates, this approach could compound value of up to Rs 45 crore annually for a franchise over time, while also deepening long-term fan relationships.
The underlying opportunity, pegged at roughly Rs 50 crore a year, is broken into four levers: data-led sponsorship and advertising uplift (35 per cent, or Rs 16–18 crore); direct-to-fan commerce and experiences (30 per cent, or Rs 11–14 crore); memberships and recurring fan revenue (20 per cent, or Rs 7–9 crore); and efficiency gains that free up capital for reinvestment (15 per cent, or Rs 5–7 crore).
Actual outcomes will vary by market size, fan base and execution capability. But the direction is clear. The future economics of IPL franchises, the analysis concludes, will hinge less on how many fans they reach and more on how many relationships they own.
