Mumbai: Taboola has released the readership insights for January 2023. Taboola Newsroom uses topic insights to analyze real-time audience data to identify some of the intriguing and popular themes that engaged Indian readers throughout the month.
The surge in pageview traffic revealed insights into the diverse interests of Indian audiences in content across entertainment, sports, festivals, and the economy. Here are some of the key insights revealed from the readership trends for January 2023:
Entertainment:
In 2023, several films, be it Bollywood, Hollywood, or Tollywood, are anticipated to be released across the country, with an aim to entertain the audience and increase box office receipts. On 25 January, the most awaited film, ‘Pathaan’, starring Shah Rukh Khan, was released. Shah Rukh Khan made his big-screen comeback with this movie, which is also one of the most popular movies of 2023 so far. Shahrukh's homecoming movie became the highest-grossing opening weekend movie in Hindi film history, resulting in a 738 per cent increase in page visits over the previous 45 days on the Taboola Newsroom.
While it is impossible to predict the next box office hit savvy marketers can use tent-pole Bollywood releases to their advantage. From a creative perspective marketers can incorporate familiar phrases, and scenes from hit movies to strike an emotional chord with their audience. Xiaomi did this to great effect in its Diwali party sales ad featuring Bobby Deol, and references to his film songs.
Obviously, not everyone has the budget to shell out for massive starpower, but everyone with a marketing budget can still harken back to famous movie moments. Dunzo’s 2021 campaign harkened back to Sunny Deol’s dialogue in Damini by recreating his famous courtroom monologue.
With tent-pole film releases there will be a predictable surge in traffic on the Open Web across entertainment content. This is an opportunity for marketers to activate contextually relevant campaigns in a cost-effective way. The increase in traffic, creates more impression opportunities, and makes niche audience targeting more scalable. What would be challenging during the doldrums of film season becomes more achievable in the run-up, and days after large movie releases.
For example, for the release of Tiger 3 starring Salman Khan over Diwali marketers should create assets for the open web that harken back to classic Bollywood films, and activate these campaigns across the Open Web using contextual targeting. The one-two punch of a contextually relevant asset across film content will be cost-effective, and potent.
Sports:
As the 2023 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup was held in Bhubaneswar, India, from January 13 to January 29, hundreds of thousands of hockey fans followed fresh developments and insights online. With multiple domestic and international matches, players, rules, and tactics making news every day, the Taboola Newsroom saw a 439 per cent rise in readership as Belgium drew to win their third World Cup title.
Major sporting events are great opportunities for all marketers to achieve higher reach, and efficiency for their campaigns across contextual audiences related to sports due to predictable traffic increases. A great way to leverage this opportunity is via high impact packages that bundle all sport audiences across the Open Web in India.
Festival:
India has a vast array of festivals that highlight centuries-long traditions and rich cultural legacy. The day on which the event is to be observed is determined by each faith using its calendar. In January, people celebrate the winter harvest festivals of Lohri, Makar Sankranti, and Pongal. These celebrations honour India's ethos of unity in diversity and are commemorated throughout the nation. In Punjab, Haryana, and other northern regions, Lohri is marked just one day before Makar Sankranti, which celebrates the end of the sowing season with a bonfire. During these days, people surfed images, quotes, messages, WhatsApp, and Facebook statuses to share with friends and family, which saw a 100 per cent rise in readership. Like major sporting events, festivals are also great opportunities for marketers to reach an audience that is already reading about gifts for loved ones. Savvy brands can start preparing their campaigns for the Festive Season in the back half of the year- it will be sure to be big. Contextual targeting is extremely powerful as consumers begin to read and research about presents for their loved ones.
Economy:
India's 2023 budget is growth-oriented and outlines reforms that would affect several industries, including FMCG, BFSI, real estate, auto and others. Forward-thinking advertisers are likely to be thinking about campaigns that will capture the growth driven by this Union Budget. Advertisers should stay ahead of their competition by being present where these consumers are doing their research - on trusted publications on the open web. Around Budget announcement day, lakhs of government employees of the country were curious to know if the eighth Pay Commission will be announced in the Union Budget 2023, as it was a big gift to lakh of government employees on the salary hike, which saw a 3891 per cent rise in readership on Taboola Newsroom in the last 45 days.
